COUNTYWIDE : Calleguas Chief to Retire After 22 Years With Water District

James A. Hubert, general manager of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, will retire May 1 to spend more time with his family and friends.

Hubert, 62, said he also plans to fish, golf and visit his hometown of Tomah, Wis.

“I want to get on with something else,” he said.

Hubert, the district’s fourth general manager, announced his resignation at a Jan. 8 board meeting.

Calleguas directors will form a three-member panel to select his replacement.

Hubert, an electronics engineer, joined the district as one of five members of the board of directors in 1969.

He was appointed to the $99,000-a-year general manager’s post in 1985 and presides over a $33-million annual budget.

“The day-to-day operation has changed dramatically,” said Hubert, who has watched the district mature into a computer-controlled system that supplies water to about 485,000 residents in five Ventura County cities. Calleguas is the county’s link with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

During his tenure with the district, Hubert said he is most proud of a nine-year, $183-million capital improvement project that includes plans to build a $50-million water-filtration plant in Thousand Oaks.

Planned improvements also include a second pipeline from the MWD to expand the district’s capacity and to provide a backup delivery system.

Hubert is also working with the MWD to study whether water can be stored underground, a cheaper alternative to expensive above-ground reservoirs.

Hubert said the district also wants to build desalination plants in Somis, the Conejo Valley, the Santa Rosa Valley and elsewhere to make underground water in those areas suitable for drinking.