If you think they are wasting our money at City Hall these days, you should take a look at the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), the public agency created by the California Legislature to oversee supply of our water and manage flood control. They have a board of seven directors, five elected by region and two appointed by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The SCVWD has a plush, marble-floored and chandeliered $26 million headquarters complete with duck pond, and an extremely well-compensated CEO, Stanley M. Williams.
Usually, little attention is paid to the goings on at the supplier of our water, as long as the taps continue to flow. However, in the past week, the Mercury News has brought some very unsettling activity at the SCVWD to public attention that is hard to ignore. It seems that CEO Williams is exceeding his authority. It also appears that, in violation of the public trust, it has been easy for the SCVWD to hide a considerable amount of over-the-top expenditures in the rates they charge for a commodity that is essential to life and every resident must purchase from them.
One of the SCVWD elected board members, attorney Greg Zlotnick, resigned his position (and pay of $236 per meeting) to take a job as a “special counsel to the CEO for strategic purposes,” effective today, that will cost the public $236,000 per year in salary and expenses (including a car allowance of $450 per month!). The job wasn’t advertised, there was no competitive process as per the instructions of the water district’s attorney, and the rest of the board was not informed or consulted before the appointment was made. In a complete conflict of interest, Williams, in effect, hired his own boss—a person elected to look after the public’s interest—to a high-paying position: an inside job, so to speak.
A Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury investigation has pointed out that the water district’s salary costs doubled to nearly $100 million between 2000 and 2006. In addition, it found that Williams has hired 33 “unclassified” employees—an excessive number by comparison with other bay area water districts—at an average pay of $152,000 per year, above average for local public agencies. There also seems to be a lot of expense account travel being racked up. Zlotnick ran up $70,000 worth of travel expenses in one year. Where the hell did he go, Monte Carlo? All of this is courtesy of the nearly 2 million water-consuming residents of the county.
None of this passes the smell test. The water district under Williams is being mismanaged, has become a bloated bureaucracy and is wasting far too much public money. The chairman of the SCVWD, Tony Estremera, and members of the board obviously feel the growing backlash. The chairman has announced that public meetings will be held next month on the issue. In the meantime, there have been closed-door board meetings to discuss and evaluate Williams’s performance. Estremera further suggests that the board may adopt a policy that will require a waiting period before a board member can be hired as staff.
That’s all well and good, but what the public wants to see is immediate action by the board with regard to the issues at hand. At the very least, Zlotnick’s hiring should be disallowed. The position should first be justified and approved by the board in an open public process, followed by an open competition to fill it. The freewheeling CEO should be reprimanded, put on probation, required to seek board approval for all future hires in advance, and his past unclassified hires scrutinized to see if they were properly made, were necessary and that the very high salaries are justified. Furthermore, there needs to be an in-depth public enquiry into what appears to be excessive bloat at the agency and expense account high-living by board members and employees. There is an awful lot of our money being thrown around. The board needs to act now to rein in spending and curtail excessive travel (keep thinking about the $70,000 of expenses for ONE person in ONE year!).
We elect the board and pay them to look out for the public’s interest, not their own. If the board members don’t start carrying out their duties, it’s time to get new ones.
I had a similar experience. The SCVWD employs Rick Callendar as a “Government Affairs Representative”.
In four years on the city council I never once heard from Rick about water issues. This despite the fact that the water district had a major flood control project in my city.
As far as I could tell, the Government Affirs Representative did no actual managing of Government Affairs.
Jack,
You do not understand how business operates. The CEO of any company is a very special and talented person. Since there are few people who can meet the requirements for being a CEO, we need to provide CEOs with a high salary, and not restrain them with petty rules.
This is called “the market”, and is how capitalism functions best. When we interfere with “the market” by trying to restrict our CEOs, or questioning their salaries, then we are being unpatriotic, and undermining the very foundation of our country.
While it is acceptable to interfere with “the market” and drive down engineer salaries by importing cheap labor, or outsourcing their jobs, we simply cannot allow this type of interference to occur with our CEOs.
Again, the reason why they are CEOs is because they are special, and no one else can do their job.
Long live the CEO, and his fellow executives.
I’ve been wondering about SCVWD for awhile now. Several years back they put on a real dog and pony show to pass a parcel tax. There were all these pretty pictures and the promise of being able to drop our flood insurance. The impression they gave is that they had a plan in place and only need the money to move forward with it.
Since the vote, I’ve heard zilch. When I look at the web site I can’t get any idea of what the timeline is and what I might expect in terms of action. 70K for travel. The guy is a crook.
#3 Willow Glen Dad
Thanks for the reminder about the parcel tax.
The SCVWD website is like a maze. It’s badly organized and definitely user unfriendly. It’s probably on purpose.
The more I think about the 70K of travel expenses in one year for Zlotnick, the more outrageous it seems. I can’t even figure out how you could spend that much in one year on flights, hotel and food just going to conferences. I sure would like to look at those receipts! I couldn’t spend that much on a two-year-long around-the-world tour. And if Zlotnick spent 70K, think how much in total the whole agency must have clocked up last year. The public is owed an in-depth explanation for these expenditures, but I’ll bet they can’t justify them.
Is this the same Greg Perry who was ran out of town and off the mountain view city council for being a glad fly and fraud?
I wonder
Dear Jack:
Is this the same outfit that takes out quarter and half page ads in the newspaper to remind all of us that tap water comes out of the faucets, and that water falls from the sky when it rains? I hear they have another ad campaign coming out that will show that the chemical composition of water is H2O!
Just another example of a public institution being converted into a private franchise with little or no accountability to the people and the greater good.
pete campbell
Today, you criticize the SCVWD for expanding their payroll, yet on June 21, you criticized MediaNews for cutting staff at the SJ Mercury News. On June 7, you criticized nightclub owners for wanting to expand opening hours, but on May 24, you criticized the MHP for having an empty calendar. Try as you may, you cannot hide your “special” agenda for our valley.
One point regarding CEOs is that they are Very Important, and engage in Very Important tasks. These Very Important tasks include things such as attending Very Important meetings, talking to Very Important customers, and making Very Important decisions.
Consequently, CEOs need to extensively travel. Since their time is Very Important it is extremely vital that the Very Important CEOs, and their Very Important executives, have their own aircraft in order to easily and quickly accomplish their Very Important tasks.
In this regard, I am extremely disappointed that SCVWD does not yet have their own corporate jet. This is a very serious deficiency, and should be immediately corrected.
A great example of Very Important people using their Very Important aircraft for Very Important things is Google. The Very Important executives with Google are now able to use Moffett Field with their Very Important airplanes. This is because NASA is now able to work with Google on Very Important things.
Of course, other Santa Clara county aircraft owners cannot use Moffett Field because they are just unimportant riff-raff. However, I am sure that once SCVWD acquires their own corporate jet then NASA will agree that they are Very Important, and can now use Moffett Field.
How many of these people actually know something useful about preventing floods and supplying us with clean drinking water, which presumably are the main tasks of the SCVWD?
I’ve actually met some engineers from the SCVWD, and they impressed me as being pretty knowledgeable about their jobs, but I bet none of them are making $236K.
Jack,
I went to the website and right on the front page it has a link to their report on the special tax which was passed.
You are clearly looking lacking facts because you dont even bother to mention that becasue of the passage of that special tax is why they hired up to build the flood protecton projects.
yes the 70k seems like a joke and is very questionable to me, but clearly this CEO knows what he is doing and how to get the job done.
If he had allowed for LA to continue to attack and take Silicon Valley’s water supply Im sure you would have something to say then too.
You are completely intolerable with the lose way you present the facts.
Get the real facts jack.
#7 “Unbelievable”
AKA:
Todd and Dennis, Trent, James, Frank, Jonathan, Henry, Ted, Jason, Edward, Kenneth, Kent, Kevin, Ken, Kirk, Michael, Reginald, Tony, etc. , etc., etc………
That’s a very interesting observation from someone who either can’t decide what to call himself or has a deliberate agenda to hypnotize our readers and take over San Jose Inside for mind control experiments. Who are you working for? Karl Rove?
$236k/year and a $70k travel budget. Where do I apply?
Jack
What are you talking about in #11?
Are the names all the same person ? Why do you say that ? Because they use the same URL ?
How do you know they are not different people in the same company using a anonymous web proxy or different people using same anonymous web URL site
Does anyone have the correct figure for what the SCVWD has stashed away in its reserves?
As I recall it’s somewhere between $250MM and $500MM. Whatever it is, its a chunk.
So I’m wondering why the need to pass a parcel tax.
Just Wondering
Jack,
I’m so deeply sorry for posting under different names. But if you were me, would you use your real name? I’m clueless. Where can I get a clue? Can I buy one at Santana Row? Can I pray for one at St. Joseph’s Cathedral? Can I get one from Club Cuccini? Maybe I can get a clue from the San Jose City Council?
I’m so helpless , hopeless and lost.
Unbelievable (#7),
You’re a complete dipstick! I’ll tell you what’s unbelievable… it’s that you cannot distinguish between private companies and public agencies, with the authority to levy taxes.
For many years, private companies have focused on shareholder return via increasing revenue and/or decreasing costs. In contrast, Government agencies should be providing quality service to taxpayers at an effective cost.
I see little benefit from the Water District. They continue to grow their payroll at an unsustainable rate without providing added services.
As another contributor noted, where’s the flood control that was promised? Long ago, I gave up thinking that my flood insurance premium would ever disappear. As a result, I’ve “skinnied down” the policy face value and increased the deductible to the maximum.
I believe it’s incumbent upon the County to audit the Water District to the fullest measure possible. Who knows what might lurk in those fat salaries, exorbitant expense accounts and all of those added positions without public accountability?
#16, You’re probably right, I apologize. Many people (including family, friends and coworkers) have told me I’m dumb and need to get a “clue”. I just assumed that just as McDonalds tries to sell as many hamburgers as possible, the SCVWD should maximize profits. I thought the SCVWD should charge the highest rates possible and provide as little service in return.
Greg #6
when Jack incorrectly pointed out that there was no information on their website i checked and found a project report from an independant watchdog group.
there were at least 10 different flood protection projects in additon to trails and other things detailing the status of the project.
Wow you guys love to play loose with the facts and make up the ones you dont know.
I guess the word for the year @ SCVWD is sinecure.
Part of the problem with SCCWD is that all of the board members ar NOT elected. Joe Judge was appointed by Soupervisor Zoe Lofgren in 1981. I think Estremera is the other Board of Soups appointment, again, there forever. The monthly stipend must be serious. Also, everyone overlooks the fact that SCVWD develops water supplies so that San Jose Water Co. can sell the water to those who paid for those supplies. Lexington Reservoir, for example, was built and paid for by taxpayers to run down Los Gatos Creek into the Campbell settling ponds over aquifers drained by SJWC pumps for distribution to households. The Water Co. didn’t need, or didn’t have, the capital to build Lexington or the other impounding structures. Taxpayers to the rescue!! The Soups know all about this, but the water users don’t make the connection.
There will be more outrages than piggish salaries and expense accounts IF the cover ever comes off this sneaky deal, not something on the Soups’ agenda, though they could confiscate the Water District’s massive reserve of tax $$ to pay down their deficit. George Green
#8’s post regarding CEOs and their airplanes makes me wonder if the one year $70,000 dollar travel expense for the “Very Important” CEO of SCVWD includes leasing aircraft for travel.
Wow.. so this is why my water bill has tripled since I moved into my home 12 years ago. Glad to see its all worthwhile, now all I need to do is vote republican.. Oh and this all goes with the garbage bill that doubled as well. God I love it here…NOT
Check your next water bill. Unless you have a swimming pool or a HUGE lawn, the biggest item on the bill is the basic administrative fee, which probably goes to pay the bloated salaries. It is far larger at my home than the cost of the water itself.
Well I see thst someone got something right about joe judge. He has not represented us well for years.
When is willow glen going to wake up and throw this idiot off the board over there.
He is a true excuse for term limits.
These thing such as sliding friends or family into civil service jobs that pay very well go on everyday with the City of San Jose, There is supposed to be a competitive process that goes on and this helps level the playing field.
But…. In most cases things like bringing your buddies on board without even an interview tends to piss people off a bit.
The SCVWD just got caught but it has been done that way for years. I have been on a couple of the boards there and sure it’s done that way.
I’m not saying it’s right because it’s not, it’s just stupid that people of precieved power think that they could do these types of things and not get caught.
The City is just as bad as SCVWD and pretty much does the same things still… Reed has not changed anything for the better for the city maybe except his idiotic flag neck tie!
He does the same stuff by getting his friends and contributors into high paying jobs as payback. While long time city employees who are inline for the jobs have to take a back seat to another batch of corrupted city leaders friends.
What a joke.
How about that Team San Jose, What the hell did I tell ya?! Did they screw up or what?
Mr. Reed, I know you read this blog, get a clue back away from non – profits with thier hands out looking for MY tax $$$$$‘s
Old Frank is tired and needs his meds have a good evening all. Time for some Vino