A San Jose news website claims that Valley Water CEO Rick Callender is on “voluntary leave” after one of his employees filed a misconduct complaint against him.
The website, San Jose Spotlight, said it was told by Richard Santos, a Valley Water board member, that the agency is “independently investigating” an employee’s complaint against Callender. He said he doesn’t know when the complaint was filed or the nature of the allegations.
Callender went on leave Dec. 14, days after a labor union representing most of the agency’s 850 employees publicly claimed a worker filed a complaint containing “severe” allegations against an unnamed “executive management” official.
Callender has said previously that he is on “medical leave” and will be returning to his $512,886 job on April 1. The district is looking for an interim CEO.
During his medical leave, Callender has traveled to Ghana, Africa with a group of students associated with the NAACP.
Callender, former president of the NAACP’s California-Hawaii chapter, became the first black man to lead the water agency in May 2020.
Valley Water collects a tax from Palo Alto and Los Altos property owners, but it doesn’t provide any water to those communities. The local water supply comes from the San Francisco-owned Hetch-Hetchy system.
The tax is supposed to assist in flood control efforts. But Valley Water board member Nai Hsueh on Dec. 19 threatened to pull her agency out of the San Francisquito Creck Joint Powers Authority, which is trying to stop future floods caused by the creek.
San Jose Spotlight, which first reported the misconduct complaint was tied to Callender’s leave of absence, is a nonprofit funded by donors. Spotlight said it has received donations from Valley Water and that Callender previously served on its board of directors.
“Callender went on leave Dec. 14, days after a labor union representing most of the agency’s 850 employees publicly claimed a worker filed a complaint containing “severe” allegations against an unnamed “executive management” official.”
How would a board member not “know when the complaint was filed or the nature of the allegations”? Doesn’t the director serve at the discretion of the board?
“Valley Water collects a tax from Palo Alto and Los Altos property owners, but it doesn’t provide any water to those communities. The local water supply comes from the San Francisco-owned Hetch-Hetchy system.”
Why are we paying a tax but not getting any water from them? Why are we paying another exec with a huge salary more than $500,000 for nothing?
Aren’t our ridiculous utility bills high enough with CPAU “overcharging” us by $24,000,000 last year as permitted by the transfer tax?? When does it ever stop.
Back in 1998, Callender was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for attacking a guy with a racquetball racquet in a dispute over a parking space, according to Metro. The victim needed 22 stitches above his right eye. The conviction caused Callender to call off his bid for a seat on the East Side Union School District, a Latino-heavy area where he ran under his birth name, “Enrico.”
Rick and his [Deleted — Keep it clean] are a menace to local government. His ego is the size of a stadium and his style of leadership is borderline Trumpian in its meglomania. Stay in Ghana, Rick!
Stated in my personal capacity and not on behalf of Valley Water or the Board (obviously): Thank you, Palo Alto Daily Post, for your unbiased coverage. I look forward to you uncovering more of the goings on this $10 billion govt agency. With your continued coverage, hopefully the public will learn more about how these six-figure officials and Board allies are spending our hard-earned money. Although sometimes the cover-ups are worse than the crimes, I’m not sure that is the case here. I appreciate your investigations.
The board is playing ignorant because they already knew Rick’s sketchy past when they hired him as CEO. Female employees are told which creepy dudes to not work with and ol’Rick was in the top 3. The entire job is an ego trip for this own sense of self importance. He can’t lead as evidenced by his low approval rating. But harass women? Rick’s A number 1.