WSSC Commissioners Split On Agency Manager Nominee

Leaders of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission appear deadlocked along county lines over the nominee for the water utility's general manager job, prolonging a 14-month search for a permanent leader for the troubled agency, according to two people who attended a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

The prospect of a 3 to 3 deadlock among WSSC's six commissioners prompted them to postpone a vote Wednesday on whether to appoint David E. Chardavoyne, a former leader of San Antonio's water agency, to WSSC's top job.

Montgomery Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and Prince George's Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) will soon discuss their next move, according to an aide to Leggett. The two executives nominated Chardavoyne last month after WSSC commissioners failed to reach agreement on a candidate following their own national search, which took place as WSSC was coping with a record number of water main breaks.

"It's in limbo," said a Montgomery commissioner, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the board generally does not discuss personnel matters publicly. "It's not over for Chardavoyne, but yesterday wasn't helpful."

Some Prince George's commissioners expressed concern about $635,000 the Texas agency paid in 2007 to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit against Chardavoyne and the utility by an African American employee, according to Prince George's Commissioner Juanita D. Miller and the Montgomery commissioner.

Chardavoyne sued two previous employers over contract disputes, another issue the board is considering, they said. He left San Antonio last year after being paid $412,000 in a separation agreement that barred another lawsuit.

Montgomery's commissioners continue to support Chardavoyne because they believe there were "mitigating circumstances" in the racial discrimination case, said the Montgomery commissioner.

Miller said that Johnson "left the decision up to his commissioners" and that she opposes Chardavoyne getting the job, in large part because of the discrimination case. Referring to the racial discrimination allegations and Chardavoyne's lawsuits against previous employers, Miller said: "I just wouldn't want to expose our agency to that."

The bias lawsuit was filed by the former head of the San Antonio utility's internal audit department, who alleged that Chardavoyne harassed him and blamed him for problems that were not his fault. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made a finding of racial discrimination.

Chardavoyne has said that the allegations were "outrageous" and "offensive" and that his former employer admitted no wrongdoing in the legal settlement.

Joyce Starks, another Prince George's commissioner, told her colleagues that the county's board members "couldn't support him based on their signal from Jack" Johnson, the Montgomery commissioner said.

Johnson's office did not return two phone messages yesterday.

Timothy Firestine, Leggett's chief administrative officer, said Leggett did not have "clear direction" from Johnson about whether he is still supporting Chardavoyne. Firestine said Leggett thinks Chardavoyne was hired in San Antonio to deal with some "performance issues" and "took the brunt" of those efforts. He also thinks Chardavoyne's lawsuits against his former employers were not unusual for an executive when a private utility is taken over by another company.

"It was not an issue for Ike Leggett once he understood the facts," Firestine said.

Chardavoyne declined to comment yesterday on the status of his candidacy, saying only that he is "well qualified" to lead the WSSC and had been "maligned" by inaccurate stories in the San Antonio media.