The CEO of Silicon Valley\u2019s largest water agency, a longtime water manager who also serves as president of the California-Hawaii NAACP, resigned Friday following a year-long misconduct investigation during which he had threatened to sue the agency.<\/p>\n
Rick Callender, who has worked for the Santa Clara Valley Water District since 1996, and served as its CEO since 2020<\/a>, will step aside on March 1 and work for one year as an advisor reporting to the district\u2019s board chairman, Tony Estremera.<\/p>\n In the new job, Callender will continue to earn his current salary of $520,000 a year plus benefits until agreeing to step down March 1, 2027.<\/p>\n The district, a government agency also known as Valley Water, provides drinking water and flood protection to 2 million residents in Santa Clara County. It is funded by water charges and taxes.<\/p>\n After a two-hour closed session meeting Friday, the district\u2019s board voted 6-1 to approve the agreement. Board member Rebecca Eisenberg voted no.<\/p>\n Following the meeting, Estremera characterized the vote as a compromise in the district\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can have everybody suing everybody instead of providing services to the public,\u201d Estremera said. \u201cWe have to balance that out. Do we want to spend the next five years in litigation as part of these varying disputes? We\u2019ve always try find a balance.\u201d<\/p>\n Callendar said he had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI was planning on retiring at the end of 2025,\u201d he said. \u201cI stayed on to clear my name.\u201d<\/p>\n Callender went on leave in December 2024, after a female employee filed a complaint against him. Two other female employees filed complaints afterward. Neither the board nor Callender have disclosed publicly what the nature of the complaint was.<\/p>\n In January 2025, Calender turned the tables when his attorney, Lori Costanzo of San Jose, sent a letter to the district requesting a copy of his personnel file and threatening to sue the agency for \u201chostile work environment, discrimination, retaliation and more.\u201d<\/p>\n While on leave, Callender has continued to receive his full salary for the past 14 months as the district\u2019s 7-member elected board hired outside a legal firm, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, based in Cerritos, to investigate the allegations.<\/p>\n The water district\u2019s counsel, Carlos Orellana, also hired a crisis communications company, Progress Public Affairs, based in San Francisco, during the saga.<\/p>\n Estremera said Friday that the final investigative report will be released next week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe investigation is completed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have reports that we are going to be redacting to protect the privacy of the witnesses. We\u2019re going to complete that at our next meeting on Tuesday, so we can allow for the release of those records.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what the general conclusion of the investigation was, Estremera said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get ahead of the report. I\u2019ll let it speak for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n