THE candidate chosen by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation board to be the new executive director is still negotiating his contract terms and has not signed a contract, CUC acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje said.
“He did advise that his employment will start on June 3, [but] we have not received a sign contract yet,” Terlaje informed the CUC board on March 27, 2024.
The CUC board on February 23, 2024, unanimously approved the hiring of Christopher Theisen as executive director for two years with an annual salary of $200,000.
Theisen, a registered and licensed professional engineer in California, will also receive a one-year allowance for housing, vehicle, relocation costs, and standard benefits.
“His [proposed contract] goes to our legal counsel and back to our human resources and then we advise him [about it],” Terlaje said.
“He agreed to come aboard, but at this point I’m not sure if he made a commitment. We will continue to follow up on his contract,” she added.
For the CUC chief financial officer’s position, Terlaje said, “We have two candidates who have been vetted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
She added, “We just submitted three applicants that came in today, Wednesday, and two of them seemed qualified and will see what EPA will say. We will be scheduling an interview in a couple of days.”
As for the chief engineer’s position, Terlaje said negotiations were still ongoing with the applicant.
She said the associate engineer’s position is also required by the federal stipulated orders, but EPA Clean Water Act Inspector and Enforcement Officer John Tinger told her it was no longer necessary to fill it, Terlaje added.
“CUC [also] hired an engineer manager, which is a position that primarily allows the [work] to continue when the chief engineer is absent,” she said.
EPA earlier fined CUC $108,000 for failure to fill critical positions.
About the stipulated orders
In Nov. 2008, after EPA cited CUC for violating the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, the federal court issued Stipulated Orders 1 and 2.
SO1 focuses on CUC’s management structure, drinking water and wastewater issues while SO2 pertains to oil issues.
