NEWPORT BEACH : City to Interview 14 for Utilities Chief

The city will probably select a new utilities director within a month, Personnel Director Duane Munson said Monday.

Fourteen finalists for the post will be interviewed this week by a panel of two city managers from outside Newport Beach and a chief executive officer of a private utilities company, Munson said.

The city has been without a permanent utilities director since Robert J. Dixon was arrested in January for embezzling $1.8 million from city coffers. Dixon, a 17-year Newport Beach employee, pleaded guilty to two counts of embezzlement in April and is now serving a four-year sentence.

Dixon apparently submitted paperwork to the city’s Finance Department for fictitious services or transactions, and then collected the checks, forged signatures and deposited the money into his personal accounts. The scheme unraveled when a credit card company investigator told Newport Beach police that many city checks were turning up in Dixon’s account. When police confronted the utilities director, he confessed.

Only one of the 14 finalists for the top job in the 49-member Utilities Department is a city employee, and only one is from out of state, Munson said. He would not disclose the identities of the candidates. The city staff selected the finalists from more than 75 applicants.

Once the interviews are completed, the panel will present City Manager Kevin J. Murphy with recommendations, and Murphy will interview some candidates. A decision may be reached as early as the first week of December, Munson said.

The salary of the new utilities director will be between $71,453 and $86,853.