Los Osos CSD names new interim general manager

After months of controversy surrounding former Los Osos Community Services District General Manager Kathy Kivley and her eventual departure, a new interim leader of the district has been named.

Kampa Community Solutions, a special district management consulting firm led by Peter Kampa and based in Sonora, has been appointed to lead the district. Kampa will be the face of the general manager role, with assistance from staff members he employs.

The unanimous hire was made in a closed session meeting Feb. 11 by the Los Osos district’s board of directors and then announced afterward in open session. Kampa’s first day of work with the district was Feb. 12.

On Thursday, the board followed up with a unanimous vote to approve a “consulting agreement” that retains the firm’s services through May 31.

Kampa also currently serves as general manager of two other California community services districts and will be on-site in Los Osos part time. But he says his experience, with input from assistants, will enable him to run the district remotely when necessary.

“My work won’t always be done in the office, but I think the district has very capable people to handle some of the duties that the previous general manager was taking on, such as customer service,” Kampa said in a telephone interview Friday. “I’ll be doing some of the work at night and on weekends. I’ve done this kind of work so many times, it’s second nature. I’m focused on districts like this that have very similar issues and concerns.”

Kampa has more than 22 years of experience in special district management. He served as general manager of the Tuolumne Utilities District from December 2006 to October 2013 and the McCloud Community Services District between 1997 and 2005.

The Los Osos CSD will pay Kampa’s firm $8,083.33 per month, the equivalent of $97,000 per year, under the agreement. The contract does not stipulate the number of hours Kampa and his firm must work for the district, only that the job duties — including developing policies, procedures and documents to manage the district — must be satisfactorily completed.

Kivley, who recently left the district under a confidential separation agreement, was tasked with serving the district on-site during business hours. She earned $99,000 per year plus benefits.

Kampa also is general manager for the Lake Don Pedro Community Services District in Stanislaus County and the Saddle Creek Community Services District in Calaveras County, and must split his duties with those other districts. Kampa said he would like to stay on permanently with the Los Osos CSD under the existing working arrangement, while maintaining his home in Sonora.

“I’d love to be the Los Osos CSD general manager long term,” Kampa said.

“As for his long-term employment, that depends on performance,” said Jon-Erik Storm, the board’s vice president. “If he doesn’t perform, he doesn’t perform. If he works out, and does well, and we don’t have a problem with him being remote, we’ll keep him on. Many special districts have part-time managers. This model is not new.”

The contract with Kampa marks a transition from a turbulent past few months that led to Kivley’s departure.

Kivley, who was hired in 2013, was put on administrative leave in early December and officially ended her tenure with the district on Jan. 31. The terms of her separation agreement with the district are confidential and can’t be released without a subpoena or court order, said Los Osos CSD attorney Michael Seitz.

Kivley had faced scrutiny in an independent audit that found discrepancies in the accounting for fiscal year 2013-2014.

A key finding of the audit identified changes that Kivley made to bookkeeping entries. The firm recommended that the district accountant handle those duties solely. Kivley maintained the accounting discrepancies were caused by previous staffers and software limitations.

In October, the board hired former San Luis Obispo police chief Jim Gardiner, who conducts investigative work on personnel issues in the private and public sectors, to look into whether Kivley took unpermitted time off and used her work computer for personal activities. No official report was ever drawn up regarding those alleged violations, Seitz said, nor were any findings released on that investigation.

Kampa said changes to the accounting ledger are best left to the district’s accountant and that he has never touched the utilities software in any of the districts that he has served.

Kampa said one of his first orders of business will be to look at how the district’s work duties are structured and whether ad hoc committees that board members serve on can be reorganized or made more efficient. Existing committees include a finance committee and parks and recreation committee.

“Our goal in this relationship is to end the management turnover trend and leave the district on a firm management foundation going forward,” Kampa wrote in his proposal.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Los Osos CSD names new interim general manager."