LA MESALA MESA — Helix Water District has added a new tier of management to help oversee its more than 277,000 East County customers.
The district’s five-person board last week approved the creation of an assistant general manager position, bringing the number of employees to 151 in the district, which has an $80 million budget.
District spokesperson Mike Uhrhammer said Helix created the new position as part of its succession plan following the anticipated retirement of current general manager Carlos Lugo.
The board agreed that with Lugo planning to leave, the district should have someone working below Lugo who can become acquainted with his duties. The board had been discussing the issue in closed session before bringing it to the public’s attention in open session at the district’s Oct. 20 board meeting.
“This is a great idea with the retirement of Carlos and gives the person whomever it is time for training and real-life experience for that job,” said Helix Water board member DeAna Verbeke. “It would benefit the district and our community as well.”
Helix said that the assistant general manager will be hired by the general manager and will advise and make recommendations to the general manager and board of directors.
The salary of the new position was listed as “step 29” at Helix, which would put the assistant general manager in a range of $14,732 to $18,802 per month, or between $176,784 and $225,624 annually. Lugo’s salary is now $271,343 but a one-year extension given to him last year by the board will bump his salary to $284,910 in 2022. Lugo, 57, has not publicly set a date for his retirement, but he is not expected to stay with the district past 2023.
While the board unanimously agreed on the new position, with director Kathleen Hedberg absent, board member Mark Gracyk remarked that the district has been doing just fine without an assistant general manager “for decades and decades and has ever needed it till now.” He asked about other districts in the area that had similar positions.
According to Helix, several other local water districts have assistant general manager positions, including Santee-based Padre Dam Municipal Water District. Padre Dam, which announced that General Manager Allen Carlisle would be retiring next June, added the position on a temporary basis in August. The district tabbed Kyle Swanson, Padre Dam’s director of Advanced Water Purification, as its assistant general manager.
Helix said that Olivenhain Water District, Rancho California in Temecula, Fallbrook Water District, Vallecitos Water District, Valley Center Water District and Sweetwater Authority also have assistant general managers.
Helix Board President Joel Scalzitti called the new position “a good approach… we are in different times now” and said that it would be important for the board to “step back and make sure the ship is going to sail when (Lugo) is gone.”
Scalzitti said he imagined the board would have “many more fruitful conversations” regarding a timeline for the turnover in Lugo’s wake “in a month, in three months, in six months (to) figure out where we’re comfortable.”
