Read the report and Callender\u2019s response<\/a>)<\/p>\nRick Callender, who was fired by the Valley Water board as the agency\u2019s $716,000-a-year CEO, sexually harassed his employees, according to a report by lawyers hired by the board.<\/p>\n
While it isn\u2019t news that Callender was accused of sexual harassment, Valley Water had held on to the public reports until now. The report was dated Sept. 10, 2025 \u2014 nearly six months ago.<\/p>\n
In the report, the law firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo found Callender sent sexual comments and photos \u2014 such as a photo of his clothed crotch area \u2014\u00a0and made intimidating statements to workers.<\/p>\n
The investigators also found that Callender \u2014 who is also a top executive in the NAACP \u2014 was spending his time at Valley Water working on NAACP business. Callender also used Valley Water property to host NAACP events. But the investigators noted that Valley Water\u2019s policies weren\u2019t clear about whether it was against their rules to have a CEO who wears two hats.<\/p>\n
Callender\u2019s attorney, Lori Costanzo, said the most damaging allegations were cherry picked by the investigators. She said his comments with sexual references were \u201ctaken out of context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Callender stepped down a few days before the report was released. He stepped down after he was presented by the board with a separation agreement that ended his employment as CEO. He had been on leave for the previous 14 months.<\/p>\n
Callender went on leave on Dec. 16, 2024, days after Salam Baqleh, a labor union leader representing most of the agency\u2019s 850 employees, publicly demanded an unnamed executive be placed on administrative leave after a lower employee named the boss in a formal misconduct complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The union cited fears of retaliation against the employee due to the unnamed leader\u2019s stature and power over the agency. After the union threatened to keep speaking publicly about the misconduct complaint, Callender stopped showing up to meetings.<\/p>\n
The leave was first described as \u201cmedical\u201d then as \u201cvoluntary.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Feb. 10 Valley Water board chair Tony Estremera said, \u201cAt no time was Mr. Callender disciplined or forced to resign or retire due to any reported investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the board presented Callender with a separation agreement that pays him $716,000 to step down without suing Valley Water. As a result, both sides claims\u2019 will never be tested in court before a neutral fact-finder. <\/p>\n
He is barred from Valley Water\u2019s headquarters unless he is accompanied by Estremera. But the agreement says he will continue as a \u201cspecial adviser.\u201d The agreement doesn\u2019t explain how he could work as an adviser without entering the agency\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n
The $716,000 figure includes an annual pension contribution of $167,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rick Callender (Read the report and Callender\u2019s response) Rick Callender, who was fired by the Valley Water board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-209136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rick-Callender.png\" "\\"Rick")