Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 8, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Santa Clara
San Jose
Water hearing strategy criticized
Associated Press- 7/7/08
Another blow in
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Santa Clara
San Jose
Olga Martin Steele was brought in to temporarily lead the Santa Clara Valley Water District in January after its former CEO Stan Williams resigned under a cloud of controversy for excessive spending.
But under a contract that the board will consider extending Tuesday, Steele is making more money than Williams - $252,000 a year - while working less time, only 32 hours a week.
She maintains a part-time status so she can continue drawing her $180,000 state pension, which she earned from previous government jobs. If the water board extends Steele's contract another six months, she'll receive $432,000 this year.
On Monday, Steele and the chair of the water district board defended the arrangement.
"I came here with a lot of experience and hit the ground running," Steele said. "I've made significant changes and have initiated a number of initiatives to streamline and better leverage resources and position the district for the difficult challenges that lay ahead. And I'm doing that for less money than if they had hired a permanent CEO."
Based in
Board chair Rosemary Kamei said that Steele, 60, came in on short notice and has worked hard to bring stability to the agency.
Under her contract, she does not receive paid vacation, a car allowance or health benefits - benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Kamei negotiated the deal, though she said Monday she was unaware how much Steele is earning in pension benefits.
"But we are paying her less than we paid Stan because we are not providing her any of the benefits that we provided him. In terms of what she brings to the district, I think she's doing an excellent job. In a very short time frame she has been able to do a lot of good things."
Steele said other governments agencies, including the city of
"We would not say that anybody pulling a pension should never be able to work again," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
"But the purpose of a public employee retirement system is to take care of people in their old age. When people are able to retire relatively young, they are able to double dip. The effect on the taxpayers means that there is less money for current services."
Extravagant retirement benefits are in part to blame for the state budget crisis, he added.
"Do we have someone who is living essentially off the largess of the taxpayer at an amount that most people would say is excessive? Yes." said Coupal. "
Steele's predecessor, Williams, made $250,000 after the board gave him a 7 percent raise in his final days in office to help boost his pension.
Last year, the water district board pressured him to resign after he hired then-board member Greg Zlotnick to a newly created, $184,000-a-year job at the district without advertising the position or telling board members.
In December, the seven -member water district board hired Steele on a six-month basis while it looked for a new CEO. The vote Tuesday will be to continue the arrangement for another six months. Steele had previously worked at the district for eight years including as its chief administrative officer. Before returning to the water district, she worked as deputy director of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities.
But to date, the board has not interviewed any candidates for CEO, or advertised the position.
Kamei said she has been talking with several recruiting firms. She said the agency also is looking for a new chief financial officer and auditor, but that she hopes it can bring on board a new CEO by the end of 2008.
Steele, who owns a house in Clearlake, 120 miles north of
Under state pension rules, after 12 months of earning a salary and drawing a pension, she must choose one of the other, said Edward Fong, a spokesman for CalPERS.
"Once she reaches 12 months in January 2009, if she wanted to continue in this capacity, under state law she would have to suspend her retirement benefits, or "un-retire," he said.
In May, the water board approved significant pay raises for two of the district's other top employees, making them the most highly paid such employees of any water district in the state.
Water district counsel Debra Cauble's salary increased 8 percent to $221,720 a year. And board clerk Lauren Keller got a 5 percent raise, to $135,574 a year.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9812351
Water hearing strategy criticized
Associated Press- 7/7/08
By BRENDAN RILEY
But a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority said the claim by the Great Basin Water Network has "nothing to do" with what gets presented at the state water engineer's review of the plan to tap groundwater in Snake Valley, more than 250 miles north of Las Vegas.
State Engineer Tracy Taylor has scheduled a July 15 prehearing conference on efforts by SNWA to pump up to 16 billion gallons of water a year from
Steve Erickson of the Great Basin Water Network said more than a dozen groups and individuals from both
"They want to keep the public out of this process as much as possible," Erickson said, adding, "And this from an agency that is unelected and unaccountable, and whose books are hidden from view. It's outrageous."
Scott Huntley, public information manager for SNWA, said the conservation group sued the state engineer over the same issue in an earlier hearing on a plan to pump water from another valley and lost at the state district court level. That ruling has been appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.
"This is not a new issue," said Huntley, adding, "All of the issues the petitioners would raise will be addressed at the hearing anyway ... so additional participants won't actually add technical data to the case."
Critics of the pumping include some ranchers whose families have lived for generations in the sparsely populated area, in which
Erickson said those seeking "interested persons" status include Salt Lake and Utah County governments in Utah; a regional water group representing eight rural Nevada counties, two Shoshone tribes and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation.
The applications are for the use of enough water to supply more than 170,000 homes.
SNWA officials say they already have enough water to justify construction of a pipeline network, at a cost of up to $3.5 billion, to carry rural
Following a hearing in 2006,
In February,
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9809727?nclick_check=1
Another blow in
By Stephen Speckman
The Southern Nevada Water Authority has filed a request to deny "interested person status" to 15 applicants, including several from
"We oppose the pipeline," said Steve Erickson on behalf of the Great Basin Water Network. "We think there are other alternatives they should explore."
The Water Authority told Tracy Taylor, the
But applicants
Groups that include Erickson's, conservationists and the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority are fighting the Southern Nevada Water Authority's claim that applications for interested person status were not filed in a timely manner.
The second group wrote in their brief to
"Participation from these parties will certainly not make matters worse, and will only serve to give the state engineer all of the facts necessary to make his determination," the document states. "Therefore, they should be allowed the opportunity to defend their interests, as only they can do, rather than trust that some other protestant will 'carry the water."'
Erickson said
Last month the National Congress of American Indians approved a resolution opposing the pipeline project on the basis that it would lower
In the meantime Utah Geological Survey researchers are spending $3 million on drilling into and monitoring aquifers in the Snake, Hamlin and Tule valleys to learn more about how much water is at stake, what the quality is like and whether the aquifers flow into one another.
The state funding for the study was in response to the Southern Nevada Water Authority applying with
Should
"That's an interesting question," UGS hydrogeologist Lucy Jordan said last month. "It depends who you ask. That's where the big problems come in. Whose water really is it?" #
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700241415,00.html
DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
No comments:
Post a Comment