Water District Names New Facilities Chief

A new director of facilities management has been named for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District.

John R. Mundy, formerly utilities director for the city of Santa Monica, has a sound, team-based management style that the district needs, district representatives said.

“In a time when we’ve had to cut back on personnel, we will be working more and more relying on cooperative work, teams and partnerships to accomplish things and make services better over time,” said district spokeswoman Arlene Post.

Mundy, 44, who was appointed earlier this month, said his managerial style stems from his background in education, business management and public administration.

Better communication among employees is one way of containing costs, an important consideration in a district that has had to raise rates in the last few years, he said.

“You often will have a lot of people doing the same thing and not talking to each other, and when you do that, it costs money,” Mundy said. “And cost containment doesn’t mean being cheap, it means providing the best service we can while maintaining facilities.”

Mundy, who will be paid about $94,000 a year, will be responsible for all potable water, recycled water, waste water and composting facilities.

Before his five years with Santa Monica, Mundy was water superintendent for the city of Ventura, where he now lives. Mundy was also a water-science education instructor at Ventura College, and he has served as assistant general manager and director of operations for the Ramona Municipal Water District.