Greg Kwolek is the new Los Osos Community Services District general manager.
The Los Osos Community Services District has hired a new general manager, reaching across the Bay to find their new leader.
The LOCSD Board approved hiring Morro Bay’s Public Works Director Greg Kwolek to replace the retiring Ron Munds, according to an agenda item at the Board’s April 8 meeting. Kwolek is scheduled to start his new job on May 18.
Munds is expected to stay on for a few months until his official retirement in August, when his current contract runs out. He informed the Board last September that he would be retiring and gave them a plan to look for his replacement at that time.
Since then, the District hired a headhunter firm and recruited for the position starting in January, with the Board doing final interviews in March.
Munds came to the LOCSD in August 2019 and at 7 years will have been the longest lasting GM the District has had since it was formed in 1999.
Munds told Estero Bay News that he’d recently had a serious health issue and at 71 decided it was time to end his long career in public service.
Munds started his career with the City of San Luis Obispo, he said back in December, where he worked for some 27 years in the Utilities Department.
He also worked at SLO County Public Works for 3-1/2 years before coming to LOCSD working on storm water compliance issues and managing the County Utilities Division.
Over the years he worked on the water system, wastewater, recycled water, energy, water conservation and solid waste management, he said. “This included developing and implementing plans and projects in all these various disciplines.”
At SLO County he had oversight of the large water systems including the Salinas Reservoir — the dam and water distribution system — the Nacimiento water supply project; the Lopez dam and Zone 3 water system; the SLO County responsibilities for the State Water Project; several small water services areas; the Los Osos wastewater treatment facility; the Arroyo Grande Creek levee systems; and he also assisted with the County’s solid waste responsibilities.
Kwolek came to Morro Bay in May 2021, having been hired by former City Manager Scott Collins. He was picked for the job out of some 27 candidates.
Kwolek took over as Public Works Director replacing Rob Livick who had stepped away from the role in April 2020 becoming the City Engineer.
Kwolek came to Morro Bay with over 8-years experience in local government management and leadership, according to a City news release at the time of his hiring.
He was the division manager for the City of Pasadena, and responsible for “critical maintenance projects for the community while also building job skills for unemployed and under-skilled residents.”
Before that he was a “Public Works Management Analyst” for the City of La Cañada Flintridge and oversaw the capital budget, trails maintenance, and community right-of-way concerns. He’s also worked as Los Angeles County’s Small Business Services Program Manager.
His hiring at the time was a change for Morro Bay, which had always sought out public works directors who were either civil engineers or certified planners and at one time the job description called for the director to be both.
As GM for the CSD, his starting salary will be $214,000 a year plus standard benefits, according to the staff report on his hiring. The GM job has a lot of the same responsibilities that the public works director has, including overseeing things like the engineering and planning divisions, maintenance, utilities and capital projects, among others.
“The general manager,” reads the official job description, “manages and controls District works and operations and provides day-to-day leadership for the District. The general manager plans, organizes, coordinates and supervises all District functions and activities related to the production and distribution of potable water; the collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater; drainage, street lighting and other functions of the District; provides policy guidance and program evaluation to staff and elected officials; encourages and facilitates improvement in the provision of services to customers by District staff; fosters cooperative working relationships with intergovernmental and regulatory agencies, various public and private organization and District staff; acts as secretary to the Board of Directors; performs related work as assigned.”
The job description lists 25 “Typical Tasks” that come with the job, listing them alphabetically from A to Y (no Z).
One possible advantage is that Kwolek lives in Los Osos, so he’s not someone coming in from outside the community, as some of the former LOCSD managers have been.
He comes in as the LOCSD is working on a new water pipeline that will bring potable water to town from the Chorro Valley Pipeline, which delivers State Water to Morro Bay and runs down the Chorro Valley, along Hwy 1.
The plan is to tap the pipeline somewhere near the terminus of South Bay Boulevard and snake the pipe into Los Osos to deliver some 200-acre feet a year of drinking water to lessen the demand on the town’s groundwater basin, currently its only source of water. It will be the first instance of Los Osos importing water from outside the community, assuming the project moves forward to completion.
And in June, voters will decide whether to tax themselves to provide the money needed to purchase Sunnyside School. If that is approved, then the next task, after finalizing the purchase, will be to determine uses for the old school campus and how it could best serve the needs of the citizens.
And back in Morro Bay, the city manager had net yet named an interim public works director.
Estero Bay News sought comment from Kwolek, but he was out of the office until after deadline.
