IWD hires interim general manager
The Idyllwild Water District (IWD) Board of Directors is moving toward filling the vacancy created by the termination, after a month’s administrative leave, of General Manager (GM) Leo Havener. The board met Saturday, Jan. 27, to discuss hiring a new GM.
President Charles Schelly said at the Jan. 17, public meeting that a new GM could not be hired until the end of Havener’s leave, but that a consultant might be brought on to assist the board in running the operations of the district sooner. That person might then become an interim GM, and that the hiring of a permanent GM requires a slow, public process. An interim GM would be able to apply for the permanent position.
The Saturday meeting began with public comment from past Director David Hunt, who read a letter and provided a copy to the Crier. He asked the board to “please make fiscally responsible decisions. Please do not hire another GM with only administrative experience and no water certification. We need a GM with at least T3 and D3 certifications and lots of field experience, not another ‘pencil pusher’ who hides in the office.” He also asked that the next GM be a local resident and not a commuter, and that that board “not hire a ‘consultant’ with the intention of solving problems by hiring and firing.”
The board then went into closed session to discuss the résumés of several candidates for consultant/interim GM. That afternoon, Schelly told the Crier by text that the board had “reached tentative agreement for employment as interim GM beginning February 5th. Contract details available once reviewed by BB&K our counsel and signed by both parties.” The new interim GM will be Curt Sauer, a former Joshua Tree National Park superintendent. Other candidates were considered, but Sauer was recommended by the “committee” (Schelly and Steve Kunkle) and agreed upon by the full board. His résumé also will be “available upon employment.”
This was at least the second special session in a week; the agenda for a Wednesday night meeting listed the subject as “significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph 2 section 54956.9. (two cases).” This part of the state code says that public agency boards may meet in closed session to confer with legal counsel about potential litigation. Paragraph 2 is one justification for such a session: “A point has been reached where, in the opinion of the legislative body of the local agency on the advice of its legal counsel, based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the local agency.”
Tyla Wheeler was one of two IWD employees fired in the last few months after making complaints about Chief Water Operator Joe Reyes, complaints that IWD legal counsel allegedly upheld. It was Havener’s seeming unwillingness to address these complaints that led to his ouster.
Wheeler was reticent to discuss the content of communications between herself and the board but would tell us this: “I understand that the board is trying to do the right thing by Brian and myself. This is in the works and will take some time. I believe we were really heard at that (1/17) meeting.”
It was clear from statements at that crowded public meeting that neither Wheeler nor Water Operator Brian Wilson were looking at litigation as their first option, but were hoping to be reinstated, and to once again serve IWD and the community.