Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 31, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT:
Santa Clara water district limits CEO's power; EXECUTIVE REGRETS UPROAR OVER HIRING - San Jose Mercury News
IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT:
IID facing challenges - Imperial Valley Press
Hosken: ‘I’m not bitter’ -
SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT:
By Paul Rogers, staff writer
The Santa Clara Valley Water District's chief executive issued a public apology Monday for hiring one of the agency's board members to a newly created $184,000-a-year job without interviewing other candidates, a move that had brought charges of favoritism and bureaucracy run amok.
Even as CEO Stan Williams for the first time acknowledged mistakes, the district's board responded by stripping him of key powers and promising to keep closer watch on how the agency is run.
"I want to publicly apologize to the board for the time you're having to spend on this issue and that it's become such a hot potato," Williams said at a special meeting of the district's board in
By a 6-0 vote, board members approved a motion stating that Williams can no longer hire any of the agency's 33 top managers without their approval. They also removed the chief financial officer, clerk of the board and district counsel from Williams' authority, requiring the trio to report to the board instead. And they imposed a "revolving door" policy that bans the agency from hiring board members for at least one year.
"What we wanted to do was assure the public we are in control. What matters to the public matters to us," said Tony Estremera, chairman of the district board. "We are setting limits that weren't set previously."
The water district provides drinking water and flood protection to 1.8 million
Adviser to CEO
In June, controversy erupted when Williams hired board member Greg Zlotnick as "special counsel to the CEO" without advertising the job or interviewing other applicants. Zlotnick, 43, is a
Board members called Monday's special meeting to adopt reforms.
A chastened Williams told them he acted "precipitously" and regretted it.
"The way the decision was made, I think, appears not to have been correct at this time," Williams said. "`At the time it felt like it was the right thing to do. But it certainly brought attention to the fact that we may need to revise some of our policies."
Williams said that he hired Zlotnick to advise the district on delta water issues and global warming because the water supply from
Zlotnick was once a water adviser to the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson.
Williams told the board that although the water district already has 16 people working on delta issues, several other water agencies recently hired top delta experts.
"Seeing the other agencies are staffed at a higher level, I figured it would be good for us to bring somebody in at a higher level," Williams said.
He cited the Metropolitan Water District in
Williams said that Zlotnick's $184,000-a-year salary is comparable to what Philp is paid. Asked by the Mercury News, however, Bob Muir, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District, said Monday that Philp is paid $155,000 a year. In addition, the MWD is considerably larger than the Santa Clara Valley district, with 18 million customers - 10 times Santa Clara Valley's - and a budget of $1.8 billion - five times Santa Clara Valley's.
Throughout the four-hour meeting Monday, Santa Clara Valley Water District board members made it clear they weren't happy.
"It was legal," said board member Joe Judge of the decision to hire Zlotnick. "But I lost confidence in judgment, and I want to impose a limitation on what the CEO can do."
Longtime board member Sig Sanchez had other questions about oversight. He asked Williams to provide a list of all travel expenses from water district employees over the past year.
"I have to think our travel costs are high," he said.
The board members also approved a new rule requiring that any openings to the 33 "unclassified" positions at the district not only be approved by them but also filled after a competitive interview process. Board member Rosemary Kamei wanted all 33 jobs - which are not included in a union and which have been subject to hiring and firing at Williams' pleasure - to be publicly advertised.
But board member Larry Wilson and several other board members argued that Williams should continue to have some discretion.
Political reality
In a report last year, the
The water district's reforms now go to its staff, which will draft the legal language before coming back to the board for a final vote Aug. 14.
Underlying the change is a political reality.
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_6505662?nclick_check=1
IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT:
IID facing challenges
By Darren Simon, staff writer
Two weeks after he was fired as general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, Charles Hosken said he has no plans to leave the Valley.
“My preference would be to stay in the Valley.
“I’ve had some opportunities out of the Valley, but nothing is imminent,” he said.
Hosken said if there were opportunities in the Valley he would stay.
He plans to continue his service as board members of the Imperial Valley College Foundation and the
Hosken, who lives with his wife in the home they purchased in Holtville, said he loves the Valley and that is one reason he would want to stay.
He also said he wants to see IID thrive into the future but there are challenges.
For one, Hosken said the district needs to continue efforts to implement the 75-year quantification settlement agreement, a pact meant to end water wars over the use of the
But, he said it will not be easy.
“We have to conserve over 400,000 acre-feet a year of water,” he said. “It will be a challenge based on budget constraints.”
He also said the district has to work on improving its flow of information.
He said managers and the board need to make decisions on what he called “actionable information” from IID’s computer systems.
But, Hosken said, what the district computer systems are providing is data that is difficult to utilize for reaching informed decisions.
Also, Hosken said the district needs to do better planning as to the future of its energy service.
“There has been a lack of long-term strategic thinking,” he said.
Specifically, he said the district has a large energy-transmission system as well as a large energy-generation system, which he said is both costly and unusual.
He said most organizations either focus on transmission or generation to meet their power demands.
He said the district on its energy side has to decide “what we want to be when we grow up.”
For example, he said, the district could tap into energy from two American-owned power plants in
“These are economic decisions, they should not be emotional,” he said.
Hosken said if he had been given more time, he could have led the district through the issues it is facing.
That point aside, Hosken credited IID for its ongoing service to the community.
“I’ve been in the industry for nearly three decades,” he said. “This is one of the harshest climates for an electric system, must less a ditch irrigation system.
“Yet IID keeps the lights on and the water flowing,” he said. #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/news02.txt
Hosken: ‘I’m not bitter’
By Darren Simon, staff writer
When Charles Hosken speaks about the issues facing the Imperial Irrigation District, a force of habit causes him to speak in first person — “we” — as if he was still in a position to lead the district into the future.
He isn’t.
Two weeks ago the IID Board of Directors voted to fire him by a 4-1 vote less than two years into his three-year contract as district general manager.
His firing came about shortly after an investigation — one he initiated — found district policies had been violated in an IID energy-trading program and millions of dollars were spent beyond parameters.
But Hosken wasn’t at the helm of the district when the trading program began, and he was barely mentioned in the investigation.
So why was Hosken fired?
Board members have been mum because of a nondisparagement clause in Hosken’s contract.
What little has been said by some board members is that there were other concerns in the district beyond energy trading, like a lack of information.
Another concern was over an energy cost adjustment increase to ratepayers, a cost increase that has, in part, been linked to the energy-trading scandal. The ECA did occur during Hosken’s tenure.
The ECA is that cost paid by ratepayers for IID fuel expenses.
Despite directors raising such concerns, they have not specifically pegged those issues on Hosken or named them as reasons for his firing.
And Hosken, who received six months of pay worth more than $100,000 as a severance package, won’t say much about the board’s action to fire him — again in light of the clause.
POLITICS
Hosken, interviewed Monday about his tenure with the district, will not say whether he thinks his firing was wrapped around politics.
But he will say when he began his tenure he did not think his stay with the district would be long.
“I was concerned as to whether I would be able to fulfill my three-year contract,” he said.
“When I came here I would have liked to have retired here, but I did not see that in the cards,” he said.
A year into Hosken’s tenure there was a drastic shift in the makeup of the IID board as three new directors took office.
Hosken would not comment on the impacts of any internal politics on his tenure.
One IID director, John Pierre Menvielle, who cast the one vote to keep Hosken, said it was a politically motivated vote.
“There were certain things board members wanted done that weren’t good for the company, and Charlie wasn’t going to play ball,” said IID Director John Pierre Menvielle, the one director who voted against firing Hosken.
He declined to speak about what “certain things” board members wanted done, but Menvielle did say the two board members who wanted Hosken fired were directors James Hanks and Mike Abatti.
“They managed to get a third vote and the fourth vote got scared and ran with the pack,” Menvielle said.
Menvielle said the third vote he spoke of was issued by board President Stella Mendoza and the fourth vote came from Director Anthony Sanchez.
Menvielle also was critical of his fellow board members, saying: “They fired the general manager without a plan B.”
But, she said, “Each director is entitled to make his or her own decision. While I understand Mr. Menvielle’s decision in Mr. Hosken’s termination, I have my own reasons and I stand by them.
“Plan B was to appoint Elston Grubaugh as acting general manager,” she said. “Mr. Grubaugh has 17 years experience and he is capable of doing a fine job.”
Grubaugh, the district’s assistant general manager, was named acting manager a day after Hosken was fired.
THE HEDGING ISSUE
While
“When the report came out on hedging, I had a strong sense the board needed to take action. I was the only person basically the board could reprimand,” Hosken said.
He said the board needed to take some action against him, and it was either going to be time off without pay or termination.
When he was notified of the firing, Hosken said he was not surprised.
While Hosken wouldn’t comment much on his firing, he did say there is one issue in the district — aside from hedging — that could have played a role.
It is one issue board members have said needs to be improved. That issue is the flow of information.
“It was my responsibility to provide information and I did that to the best of my ability,” he said.
But, he said, there were times when board members had more information on issues than he did through their contacts in the district.
“They knew other information that I was not giving them,” he said, adding that made it look like “I was uninformed or I was withholding information, and both of those are bad things.”
Hosken said that could have had a bearing on his termination.
Of his termination, Hosken said: “I’m not bitter. I’m a big boy. I know the game. I love IID. There are a lot of really good people at IID. I want IID to do well.” #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/news01.txt
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