As a strong El Niño season heightens flood risks throughout California, some in San Jose are raising the alarm that shaky coordination between South Bay government agencies could hamstring emergency preparation efforts. During a Tuesday joint meeting between the Valley Water board of directors and San Jose City Council, a chorus of officials and residents warned that...
Silicon Valley water agency selects new CEO
Santa Clara County’s largest water supplier is turning to a longtime employee to lead the agency into its next chapter after a tumultuous split with the last CEO. The Valley Water board of directors voted 5-2 Tuesday to appoint Aaron Baker as its next CEO. Baker, chief operating officer of water utility, takes over Jan....
Valley Water workers want leaders to resign over ex-CEO’s contract
Santa Clara Valley Water is boiling. Dozens of water district employees showed up at Tuesday’s board of directors meeting to protest a separation agreement allowing former CEO Rick Callender to keep his $700,000 total pay and benefits, despite investigators finding he sexually harassed employees. Some workers demanded all directors who approved the agreement resign. The...
Former Valley Water CEO sexually harassed employees, report says
The head of Santa Clara County’s largest water supplier sexually harassed subordinate employees, according to independent investigators looking into allegations of misconduct. Valley Water has released the report conducted by law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, which was investigating internal claims into CEO Rick Callender and his behavior with employees. The more than year-long...
Silicon Valley water CEO resigns amid misconduct probe
The boss of Santa Clara County’s largest water supplier is stepping down — and officials will keep paying him for a year without disclosing what they discovered in a misconduct probe against him. Valley Water CEO Rick Callender is resigning effective March 1 after more than a year-long investigation into misconduct allegations by an employee,...
Santa Clara Valley Water CEO misconduct probe drags on
A misconduct probe into the boss of Silicon Valley’s largest water supplier has dragged on for a year – with no answers as to what the agency has discovered — while he continues to collect paychecks. A Santa Clara Valley Water spokesperson has confirmed CEO Rick Callender is still on leave. But the agency won’t...
Controversial Santa Clara County dam expansion scrapped
One of Valley Water’s most controversial and costly projects has been shelved indefinitely. The water district’s board of directors unanimously voted Tuesday to suspend the Pacheco Dam expansion project after eight years, which would have brought the dam’s water capacity from 5,500 acre feet of water to 140,000 acre feet of water. Directors cited the...
Valley Water land sees reduction in San Jose homeless camps
As efforts to clean up trash and clear homeless residents from local waterways continue, officials are working to make sure people don’t just move from one location to the next due to lack of housing. Valley Water has removed 462 homeless encampments from its land since implementing a no camping policy at the end of...
San Jose police help Valley Water cite, arrest homeless residents
Santa Clara County’s largest water agency can’t cite or arrest homeless people creating pollution or trespassing on its property — but the police unit it contracts with can. It’s part of Valley Water’s Stream Stewardship Law Enforcement program, where San Jose Police Department officers from the street crimes unit go out to homeless encampments along...
Lawsuit: Silicon Valley water CEO pushed funding his private group
A new lawsuit alleges Valley Water CEO Rick Callender pushed to have his agency sponsor the NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference — a private group he personally oversees — with public dollars. The conflict of interest claim comes from a civil complaint filed March 20 by Salena Pryor, an NAACP colleague who worked under Callender in his...