Cal Am Vice President Resigns: Leonard With Water Company for Five Years
By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Aug. 25–Steve Leonard, vice president and Monterey division manager for California American Water, has announced he is leaving his position after five years with the company, effective Sept. 10.
“It’s time to go on to something different,” Leonard said.
He joined Cal Am in fall 2002 as vice president and general manager of the Monterey Coastal Division. He was previously with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, a water, wastewater and hydropower utility, for 30 years.
Employees at the Cal Am division office in Monterey heard the news Thursday, said water company spokeswoman Catherine Bowie.
Leonard’s position is being temporarily filled by Thomas Bunosky of Chula Vista, director of network services for Cal Am since January, who is responsible for the operation of various water systems throughout the state. Bunosky was previously vice president and regional manager for Aqua Illinois Inc. in Kankakee, Ill.
Cal Am has begun a search for Leonard’s replacement, Bunosky said, adding that anyone from within the company can apply and the position will be advertised nationally.
“I hope the process will move forward quickly,” he said. “It’s a challenging job.”
Leonard said he plans to stay at his home in Pacific Grove and has no immediate plans to retire. The decision to resign was his, he said.
During his five years with Cal Am, Leonard said, the company pushed water resources issues toward a more regional approach, working with other water agencies and the state Public Utilities Commission.
“Keeping the water on is a 24/7 job,” he said, made possible by “an outstanding staff with a good attitude.”
The company has pursued several major projects, including a desalination plant and aquifer storage and recovery system “in an environment of uncertainty and high costs,” Leonard said. Now the desalination issue boils down to “not whether the plant will be built, but where and how big.”
Many problems involving water, he said, lie “in the values people have and their ideas about the future.” Water supply on the Peninsula has to be approached in a manner “that is not detrimental to the way people live their lives.”
Officials of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District expressed shock, surprise and disappointment at the news of Leonard’s departure.
“He’s going to be missed,” said Dave Berger, general manager of the water management district. “He’s been a great communicator with the district on a whole variety of technical and operational policy issues and a good partner in the aquifer storage and recovery project.”
In that project, excess water is pumped into aquifers to recharge them to prevent seawater intrusion and provide a dry-season water supply.
Leonard, Berger said, was a person who could effectively work through disagreements between the district and the water company.
Former district board chairman David Potter said Leonard “seemed to have figured out how to negotiate the assorted minefields in the water world. I gained a lot of respect for him.”
Leonard had “people skills that were quite good and valuable,” Potter said, “and I’ve been through a few directors out of Cal Am. The process of trying to break in a new general manager out of Cal Am is something I wish we didn’t have to do.”
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.
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