P.V. Water Management Agency Head Steps Down
Bruce Laclergue, general manager of the embattled Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, will leave the agency next month and return to work for Santa Cruz County. Laclergue's departure comes as the agency grapples with an overdraft problem... In addition, the agency faces a $4 million annual loss after a court ruled earlier this year that the agency's fees were illegal.Santa Cruz Sentinel - December 15, 2007, by Genevieve Bookwalter, staff writer.
Bruce Laclergue, general manager of the embattled Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, will leave the agency next month and return to work for Santa Cruz County.
Laclergue's departure comes as the agency grapples with an overdraft problem, where more groundwater is being pumped than is being replenished by winter rains. In addition, the agency faces a $4 million annual loss after a court ruled earlier this year that the agency's fees were illegal. Board members were forced to slash fees in half as a result.
Laclergue said the agency difficulties took a toll on him personally, and he is stepping down.
"I just accumulated a lot of stress over the year, and it affected me and it affected my family," Laclergue said.
Laclergue's last day will be Jan. 18. Board members Michael Dobler, Dennis Osmer and Dave Kegebein have formed an ad hoc committee to take on the general manager's duties after that. Dobler said Friday the board has not decided how or when they will fill the position. He had little comment on Laclergue's decision to resign.
"It's water under the bridge. I don't look in the rearview mirror," Dobler said.
Laclergue isn't traveling too far, though. He will return to his previous job with Santa Cruz County as the Pajaro River flood control manager. In that position, he will work with the county to build new levees along the river and deal with Pajaro Valley's overdraft problem.
Supervisor Ellen Pirie, whose district includes part of the Pajaro Valley, said the county will gain with Laclergue's return.
"I'm very happy that he's going to be back in the county. He's very good and there was definitely a hole when he left," Pirie said.
The county never filled Laclergue's former position, and instead asked a few current employees to pick up the responsibilities, Pirie said.
Laclergue will start with the county in February.
