Controversial Water Official Rehired as a Consultant

A South County water district official who resigned under fire last October has been hired by his former employers as a private consultant, with a contract that pays him nearly $10,000 a month, plus the use of a district-owned car.

William P. Becker, the former general manager of several water reclamation agencies, also was paid $14,000 in cash for his accrued vacation time under the new management contract, which began Jan. 1 and runs through Sept. 1.

Despite controversy surrounding Becker, who made a public apology two years ago for running up $1,000 in monthly expenses, he was hired on an interim basis to help the agencies through a transitional period, said John Schatz, a board member of the Southeast Regional Reclamation Authority, a sewage treatment agency. The SERRA board recently approved the new contract by a unanimous vote.

Schatz said the South County water agencies are considering restructuring and possibly a “major overhaul” that makes it a difficult time to hire a replacement for the experienced Becker.

“We didn’t want to bring somebody in and then try to reorganize,” Schatz said Thursday. “Obviously, that could impact the scope of that person’s responsibilities and possibly the salary as well.”

Beside sitting on the board of SERRA, Schatz is the general manager of the Santa Margarita Water District, one of seven member agencies of SERRA.

Becker, who for the last 10 years was the general manager of SERRA and another regional sewage treatment facility called the Aliso Water Management Agency, resigned last Oct. 5 amid a series of allegations.

They included a charge by another local water district official that he had netted $4,000 in savings when he bought an agency car by paying the outstanding lease payments rather than the fair market value, and that he had been buying gasoline from the Moulton Niguel Water District maintenance yard at tax-free rates.

He was also criticized for allowing a consultant to the agency to work rent-free and use the equipment in an office that houses the administrative offices of SERRA and AWMA.

At the time, Schatz called the allegations serious but “overblown.”

Becker said recently that his new consultant status is the only real change in his working situation. His salary is structured much like his former $93,000-a-year contract, except that he now gets cash for the health and retirement benefits he used to receive as an employee, according to Becker.

“I’m doing the same thing as I was doing; everything is the same,” Becker said.

His resignation was to be effective this spring, six months after the October announcement. He has continued to occupy the same office.

The new contract also calls for his district-owned car, a Jeep Cherokee, to be used only for official agency business and not for driving to and from work, said Herb Hayes, an AWMA board member from the El Toro Water District.

Hayes said “the board also authorized the issuance of a letter of commendation should [Becker] request it when he is applying for a new job.”