Water District Gets New General Manager

A longtime public works director has been hired as the new general manager of the Palmdale Water District, effective Monday.

David W. Hansen will replace outgoing manager Hal Fones, who is retiring after four years as manager of the district, which provides water to more than 70,000 residents in the Palmdale area.

The Palmdale Water District board of directors earlier this week approved a two-year employment agreement with Hansen that provides him an annual salary of $85,000 his first year and a minimum pay increase of 5%. Fones earned about $105,000 annually.

Hansen’s benefits include medical, dental and vision care, retirement coverage through the Public Employees’ Retirement System, holiday and sick time, 15 days vacation each year and an automobile for business-related use and limited personal use. The district will also pay Hansen’s relocation expenses, up to $2,000.

Water district Director John Sidwell said Hansen was chosen from a pool of about 30 candidates.

“We were quite pleased,” Sidwell said. “We had a lot of very qualified applicants. We had a lot of people that had a lot of good public agency background and a lot of water agency experience.”

Hansen comes to the district with the experience of operating a Riverside consulting business, nine years as head engineer for a Riverside area water district and a decade of service as director of public works and engineering for a small California city.

“He has a lot of experience in public agencies,” Sidwell said. “The district has been very progressive, and I think this gentleman will stay on top of everything we’ve got going.”