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Clean Water Services board discusses naming interim CEO, directs public recruitment for permanent role
Summary
At a pre-meeting work session, Clean Water Services staff presented a draft resolution to name an interim chief executive officer/general manager, set retroactive market-rate compensation and begin a national recruitment for a permanent leader; the board signaled agreement but deferred formal action to the later business meeting.
Clean Water Services board members reviewed a draft resolution to appoint an interim chief executive officer and general manager and to launch a public national recruitment for a permanent leader during a work session prior to the authority’s regular business meeting. The draft names Rich Neely as the interim and specifies market-rate compensation retroactive to the start of the interim tenure; the board did not take a formal vote in the work session.
Elizabeth Edwards, chief of staff with Clean Water Services, told the board the discussion followed a Sept. 16 work session and summarized the criteria the board had previously identified for an interim leader, including continuity of operations, supporting public health, managing the proposed budget and a financial audit, overseeing human resources and labor negotiations, and ensuring permit compliance and planning for the next permit cycle. "This conversation is following up on our September 16 work session wherein we discussed the process to appoint an interim CEO and general manager and the desired criteria for the interim," Edwards said.
Edwards said the draft resolution also affirms the authority’s intent to conduct a public national recruitment for the permanent role, allows amendments to Resolution and Order 25-7 (which had initially appointed Rick Shanley as acting), and records a commitment that interim compensation will be set at market rate and paid retroactively to the start of the acting assignment. "So commitment to a public process, a public recruitment process, and to develop criteria for [a] permanent [leader], affirming that the appointing of an interim helps to support the organization's ability to do a full recruitment process, naming Rich Neely as the interim and stating that the compensation for the role will be within market range retroactive to the beginning of the active tenure," Edwards said.
Chair Catherine Harrington questioned a wording choice in the draft, asking, "Why are you using the word 'robust'?" Edwards responded that staff had tried to reflect the board's direction and that an updated PowerPoint with the criteria would be appended to the action item for the public meeting. The work session concluded with the board pausing before the housing authority board of directors meeting and the regular business meeting, where the draft resolution is scheduled for formal consideration.
The discussion did not include a formal motion, named mover or second, or a recorded vote. The board’s next step, as described in the work session, is to consider the draft resolution during the upcoming public board meeting and to proceed with a public recruitment for the permanent chief executive officer/general manager.
