2nd DWP Administrator to Retire

A day after the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power resigned, officials confirmed Friday that another veteran top administrator has decided to retire, leaving the troubled agency with two key openings.

Frank Salas, the chief administrative officer, is set to retire Monday. He leaves as most water-and-power commissioners said Friday that they would support Ron Deaton, who is the top advisor to the City Council, as the department’s new general manager.

Deaton would take over the top job from David Wiggs, who resigned Thursday for health reasons. Deaton has promised that he would revamp the department’s management.

Salas is a 40-year veteran of the agency and briefly served as acting general manager while Wiggs was on medical leave. But Salas was replaced at the request of Mayor James K. Hahn in July.

The City Council had criticized Salas for his oversight of a $3-million-a-year contract with public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, which is currently under investigation for allegedly overbilling the city, and for proposing an 18% increase in water rates without sufficient explanation or public outreach. The council eventually rolled back the increase to 11%.

Despite the recent controversies, DWP board member Sylvia Saucedo said, “I think Frank leaving definitely creates a void.”

The loss of two top officials creates a challenge for the DWP board. On Friday, board President Dominick Rubalcava and members Saucedo and Annie Cho said they agreed with Hahn’s recommendation to name Deaton to head the agency. The other two commissioners could not be reached for comment.

“I think it’s great,” Cho said of the proposal for Deaton to become general manager. “He is very knowledgeable about the agency and the city, and the fact that he can work with the rest of the city family is a tremendous benefit.”

Rubalcava said he hoped to win board approval Tuesday to appoint Deaton and give him a $311,000 annual salary, the same amount Wiggs earned. Deaton is paid $286,000 a year as chief legislative analyst for the City Council.

Rubalcava also said he hoped that Wiggs could continue to advise the agency and Deaton under a consulting contract, but that idea met with a tepid response from fellow commissioners and members of the City Council.

“David is extremely knowledgeable,” Rubalcava said, adding that a new general manager could approve a contract of up to $150,000 without board approval.

Saucedo agreed that Wiggs might be helpful in a transition. But she said she would have to carefully consider any proposal, given that consulting contracts have been a sensitive subject at City Hall since the port commission voted to give its former general manager a $540,000, three-year contract.

Councilmen Greig Smith and Dennis Zine said they would oppose a large contract, and Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa said, “My hope is that the DWP will be prudent with the taxpayer dollars and not continue what has become a pattern in the city of giving golden parachutes to outgoing general managers.”

Hahn also might support a contract with Wiggs, said Deputy Mayor Doane Liu. “We would be open to the idea,” he said.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who is being forced by term limits to leave office in July 2005, is among those interested in Deaton’s job. But one council member privately questioned Friday whether Miscikowski could get the required 10 votes.

A second high-level city official said Miscikowski might be seen as too partisan and has had too many battles with current council members to take on a job that requires objective analysis.

Councilman Tony Cardenas disagreed. “She is very open-minded,” he said.

Two activists in Miscikowski’s Westside district also worried that the area would be hurt if she resigned her council post to become legislative analyst seven months before her successor takes office. The legislative analyst, however, usually runs council offices in a custodial role when elected officials step down.

“I have concern about her playing both roles, because I think it would be a tremendous burden,” said Suzanne Thompson of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council.

Times staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.