
Valley Water, the Bay Area's principal water supplier, has its CEO Rick Callender on a "voluntary leave" following a misconduct complaint filed by an employee. SFGate reported that the specifics of the complaint remain undisclosed, both in terms of its nature and the date it was filed. Richard Santos, a Valley Water board member, confirmed the ongoing independent investigation.
Callender's leave began on December 14, 2024, soon after the Valley Water Employees Association, which represents the majority of the agency's workers, brought severe allegations against an executive to light. The union has not confirmed if Callender is the executive in question. During this period, where his position hangs in ambiguity, Callender has reportedly traveled to Ghana with students affiliated with the NAACP, as noted by the Palo Alto Daily Post. He is expected to return to his role, which offers a salary of $512,886, on April 1. The search for an interim CEO is underway.
Despite Valley Water levying a tax on Palo Alto and Los Altos property owners, those communities receive their water from the Hetch-Hetchy system operated by San Francisco. The tax is purported to aid in flood control efforts. The controversy has spurred board member Nai Hsueh to contemplate withdrawing from the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, a partnership focused on preventing creek-induced floods.
Callender, the first Black man at the agency's helm since May 2020 and a former president of the NAACP’s California-Hawaii chapter, has faced scrutiny amidst these allegations. Callender has denied that his leave is related to the accusations and claims to be the target of retaliation by board director Rebecca Eisenberg and "third party representatives," "I have contacted my attorney and they will be addressing with Valley Water the clear retaliatory efforts of Eisenberg and her third party union representatives in relation to her discriminatory behavior and my past complaints," he told SFGate.