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Brooks out as water director |
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
By Darcy Ellis
Editor
After steering the Inyo County Water Department through the sometimes heavy seas of Owens Valley water issues, ICWD Director Tom Brooks has been relieved of his post.
The dismissal is the result of the Inyo County Board of Supervisors releasing Brooks from his contract Tuesday during a lengthy closed-session discussion in Independence.
In announcing Brooks’ departure, the board issued a brief statement acknowledging only that it had “decided to change the administrative direction of the Inyo County Water Department,” and that “former Water Director Tom Brooks will be leaving employment with Inyo County to return to private industry.”
The three-sentence press release concluded with the board wishing “to thank Mr. Brooks for his more than two years of service to the county.”
County Administrator Ron Juliff said Friday that the press release may come across as nebulous, but only because Brooks’ release from county employment is part of a confidential “contractual” matter and privacy on both sides needs to be maintained.
He noted that employment of officials like department heads “is all done by a contractual agreement, and there are provisions for ending the contract on both sides.”
According to Juliff, the board reviews appointed officials’ performances and contracts on an annual basis, and Tuesday happened to be Brooks’ turn behind closed doors.
Following Tuesday’s review, the Board of Supervisors, for whatever reason, decided not to renew Brooks’ contract.
Juliff did say that the board’s decision should not be construed as a reflection on Brooks’ job performance over the past two years. Brooks had what is called an “at will” contract with the county, Juliff explained, that can be terminated at any time for any reason. “It doesn’t have to be job performance-related or as a result of disciplinary action.”
Speculation, of course, still abounds.
Tuesday’s closed-door meeting with Brooks preempted a scheduled workshop with Juliff in which he was supposed to present “information regarding a new evaluation and compensation process for appointed Department Heads.”
That workshop has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Dec.10 at 10 a.m., but its appearance on this week’s agenda was purely coincidental, Juliff said.
“That was one of the things I owed to the board for quite some time,” said Juliff, who is trying to complete a list of board-assigned tasks before his retirement at the end of the year. “The one thing had nothing to do with the other.”
There is also the question of whether Brooks’ departure is related to recent renewed talk of relocating the ICWD from Bishop to Independence – a move that Juliff previously acknowledged drew threats of lawsuits from some ICWD employees.
Regardless of the reason for now, the ICWD finds itself in the position of having to find a new captain for the third time in almost as many years.
When longtime ICWD Director Greg James retired at the end of 2004, the board appointed Arden Wallum asacting/interim director – a stint that lasted for only months before Phil McDowell, retired Inyo County district attorney, was tapped to take the wheel.
Brooks, a geophysical engineer, was hired shortly thereafter in October 2005. A nationwide search found him working out of Lone Pine through his own private firm as a contractor and consultant on the Owens Dry Lake Mitigation Project.
During his two years and roughly one month with the ICWD, he oversaw a department of 11 full-time employees and a host of seasonal employees who undertake salt cedar eradication in the winter and vegetation measuring in the summer.
His brief tenure saw, among other milestones, the long-awaited completion of the Lower Owens River Project and the development of an Interim Management Policy (2007-10) for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power while staff from L.A. and Inyo begin a comprehensive review of the Green Book.
Juliff acknowledged that Brooks’ time at the ICWD was occupied with projects and issues of significant import to Owens Valley water issues. But he also said that’s the norm in the ICWD.
“We have a 22-year-old Long-Term Water Agreement … and we’re all still trying to learn how to work under it,” he said.
On Tuesday, the board is expected to appoint current ICWD hydrologist Bob Harrington as acting Water Department director, effective Dec. 4.
Beyond that, the board has yet to decide which direction it wants to take in finding a more long-term replacement for Brooks.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 January 2008 )
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