New San Simeon services director is a familiar face

The San Simeon services district has a new/old director on the board, replacing another new/old director who’s moving to Long Beach.

Retired La Habra police Officer Ralph McAdams resigned from the San Simeon Community Services District board Feb. 1. The remaining board members appointed former board member John Russell on March 9.

McAdams filled a seat on the board several times, on and off and on again since 2004.

Russell resigned from the Board of Directors in July 2011, after having served since late 2004.

The agency provides water, sewage-treatment service, road maintenance and other services to the more than 400 residents of the tiny oceanside community that straddles Highway 1. The CSD is building a $1 million reverse-osmosis project to reduce levels of chloride (salt) in the water.

In his resignation letter, Russell said he was leaving because “I am in disagreement with actions the board has taken in the past few months,” and because he has “a profound visceral reaction to confrontation, and it significantly affects my health.”

What’s changed? “Lots of things,” Russell said in a phone interview. “When I left, the board and I had different points of view” on the legal handling of a contract for a previous management firm. That issue “is now a moot point,” he said, with management now being handled by Charles Grace and his Grace Environmental Services.

Russell returned after McAdams asked him to do so. Russell said he was willing because “I like to volunteer, to do things like that. I have the time. I’m interested in what’s going on.”

He’s to be sworn in at the April 13 meeting.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 9:39 AM with the headline "New San Simeon services director is a familiar face."