Acting Chief Gets Top AQMD Job on Permanent Basis
James Lents, acting executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District since April, accepted the position on a permanent basis Friday.
Lents’ decision followed a half-hour personnel session of the air district board in El Monte. The board set his salary at $88,000 a year.
Lents, 43, former director of Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division, and the board reportedly reached an agreement giving the executive officer greater authority in hiring, firing and reorganizing the district staff.
He assumes the helm at a time in which the district has come under the most intense official scrutiny since it was created 10 years ago. The district has been widely criticized by environmentalists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to implement promised air pollution controls. The vote to name Lents to the post was unanimous.
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