A Salute to Edwards

L.A. Watchdog — Saturday’s scoop by David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times that Marcie Edwards, the respected general manager of our Dept. of Water and Power, has been in discussions with Mayor Garcetti’s office about retiring, but only after an orderly transition.

What was not disclosed:

• These discussions have been going on for several months and
• The mayor and his office were unable to make a timely decision on how to transition from Ms. Edwards to a new general manager.

As a result of Mr. Zahniser’s report, Mayor Garcetti reacted by announcing on Monday afternoon that Ms. Edwards will retire on Aug. 16 and that David Wright, the department’s Chief Operating Officer and Ms. Edwards’s choice, will be appointed interim general manager.

Ms. Edwards, appointed in February 2014, has done a very credible job.  Most importantly, she developed a strong management team that allowed the department to address a number of politically sensitive controversies.  These include the brouhaha over the Joint Training and Safety Institutes and the questionable use of $40 million of ratepayer money and the flawed Customer Information System that resulted in a large number of highly publicized billing mistakes.

More Accomplishments

She also built on the legacy of Ron Nichols, the previous general manager (January 2011-January 2014), by establishing credible relationships with the ratepayers, the environmental community, and the City Council.

These relationships, coupled with numerous meetings throughout the city, allowed the department to implement a five year, $1 billion rate increase without the usual controversy.

Mr. Wright, the interim general manager, is a relatively new addition to the department’s management ranks. He has had considerable utility experience, including as general manager of Riverside Public Utilities.

As the chief operating officer, Mr. Wright has an understanding of DWP, its management, its strengths and weaknesses, and its highly politicized environment.

He has a strong working knowledge of the proposed charter amendment involving the partial reform of DWP’s governance and contracting and procurement policies as well as the follow up ordinances that have been considered by the City Council Rules Committee.

Over the next three months, Mr. Garcetti will need to focus on who will be the next general manager of our Dept. of Water and Power.  The new fulltime general manager, which may well be Mr. Wright, must have considerable management experience in the utility industry. He must be able to develop a strong and deep management team and to establish strong relationships with the members of the City Council, ratepayers, and other outside constituencies.

However, if the DWP Charter amendments are approved by the voters in November, the process for selecting the general manager will be changed to follow the more elaborate process used in selecting the police chief.

In any case, the appointment of the general manager is the most important decision that the mayor makes involving our Dept. of Water and Power.

That is why the ratepayers need to be an integral part of the decision making process.

Mr. Humphreville writes L.A. Watchdog for CityWatchla.com. He is president of the DWP Advocacy Committee, the Ratepayer Advocate for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. He is the publisher of the Recycler Classifieds, www.recycler.com, and he may be contacted at lajack@gmail.com.