BOARD MEETING DATE: February 18, 2000 AGENDA NO. 3

Approve Compensation Packages for Designated Deputies

SYNOPSIS: 

The Executive Management Agreements of several Designated Deputies expire February 29, 2000 and July 31, 2000. In addition, recruitments have been completed for two Designated Deputy positions. This action is to approve the compensation package for several Designated Deputies.

COMMITTEE: 

None.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Approve the compensation package for the following Designated Deputies:
Barbara Baird, LaRonda Bowen, Jack Broadbent, Dr. Elaine Chang, Peter Greenwald, Lee Lockie, Larry Rhinehart, Lupe Valdez, Dr. Barry Wallerstein, and Mel Zeldin; Chris Marlia and Eudora Tharp, as set forth below;

Approve a salary adjustment for District Prosecutor Peter Mieras to provide parity with District Counsel; and

Authorize the Chairman of the Board to execute Executive Management Agreements with the Executive Officer and General Counsel.

Dr. William Burke
Chairman of the Board

Background

In 1987, the District established an at-will form of employment whereby senior management employees serve at the pleasure of the Executive Officer1 under an Executive Management Agreement. Several Executive Management Agreements between the District and its Designated Deputies expire this year: February 29, 2000 for Ms. Baird, Ms. Bowen, Mr. Broadbent, Mr. Eichhorn, Mr. Greenwald and Mr. Zeldin and July 31, 2000 for Dr. Chang, Ms. Lockie, Mr. Rhinehart, Ms. Valdez, and Dr. Wallerstein. In addition, the Executive Officer has completed the recruitment for Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Administrative & Human Resources and Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Information Management, both in the Office of Administration.

1except Executive Officer and General Counsel who serve at the pleasure of the Governing Board pursuant to statute (H&S Sec. 40480(b) and 40483, respectively)

CONTRACT RENEWALS:

Barbara Baird

 Barbara has been employed at the District for ten years and currently serves as District Counsel, a position she has held since 1995. She previously served as Principal Deputy District Counsel from 1990-1995. Before coming to the District, she served for nine years as Deputy County Counsel in San Diego, primarily handling litigation, including representing the San Diego Air Pollution Control District in all enforcement matters.

Barbara is able to handle complex and difficult issues while remaining sensitive to the concerns of all AQMD stakeholders, including environmental and community groups. This is demonstrated by her ability to draft and obtain stakeholder support for AQMD’s comments on EPA’s Interim Guidance on Title VI (Environmental Justice) challenges to permit decisions. These comments were described by an EPA attorney as among the most constructive comments received by the agency. Barbara also played a critical role in the AQMP lawsuits as well as many other items.

Under her leadership, Barbara’s office provides timely, knowledgeable, and responsive advice and representation in all areas of District operations. A key accomplishment under Barbara’s management has been bringing in-house a significant part of employment and labor law matters, which has resulted in significantly reducing legal bills in this area since FY 94-95. As District Counsel, Barbara advises a number of Board and advisory committees. Her knowledgeable and helpful input into nearly every major legal issue arising at the District has made her a key member of the management team, and her objective, well-thought out advice provides reliable guidance to the Board and staff.

LaRonda Bowen

 LaRonda Bowen has been with the AQMD for ten years, and has served as Public Advisor since 1993. During the past three years, she has developed initial program implementation guidelines and mechanisms for tracking and reporting on the Board's Environmental Justice Initiatives; and she has helped implement the Inland Empire Initiatives as well as the Children's Air Quality Agenda, resulting in various important conferences and outreach efforts.

She sought and gained support for AQMD Governing Board legislative initiatives by securing letters of support for bills to reauthorize the clean fuels bill in both 1998 and 1999. She secured a $100,000 grant from USEPA to implement a multi-state project to demonstrate emissions reductions from education and outreach; designed and implemented the Clean Air Ambassadors program in concert with Assemblywoman Martha Escutia’s office; oversaw the automation of the small business assistance workload; and enhanced outreach to building departments. As Chair of the Air & Waste Management Association's Environmental Management Group of the Technical Council and as the Vice-Chair of the local West Coast Section, La Ronda has represented AQMD at meetings with top EPA executives related to small business and has made presentations at national conferences and to local organizations on small business.

La Ronda has advised that she will be relocating to the Sacramento area and has requested only a six-month contract. Therefore, this action is to enter into a contract for a period ending July 31, 2000, with no compensation change. Since La Ronda has indicated she will voluntarily resign at the end of six months, the standard contract provisions regarding severance pay and outsource benefits have been deleted.

Jack Broadbent

Jack Broadbent has been with the District for over ten years, serving in progressively responsible positions, and currently serves as Deputy Executive Officer for Planning, Rule Development and Area Sources. In this position, he is responsible for providing direction for the AQMD's plans and policies, rule development, and permitting and compliance activities for area sources. During his current contract, Jack has continued to make significant contributions to a number of air quality programs. Most recently, he directed the office in several important policy efforts including the development of the 1999 Amendment to the 1997 Air Quality Management Plan and, in coordination with the Office of Science and Technology Advancement, the Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study II (MATES II) program.

Jack has successfully developed many rules/rule amendments to implement the Air Quality Management Plan such as amendments to Rules 1113 (Architectural Coatings), 1121 (Water Heaters), and 1171 (Solvent Cleaning), and rules on sources previously unregulated such as Restaurants (Rule 1138) and Small Boilers and Large Water Heaters (Rule 1146.2). Jack led the staff's efforts to amend Rule 1401 under the Board's Environmental Justice Initiative #10.

During the past three years, Jack also served as an Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for the former Office of Stationary Source Compliance. In this position, he was responsible for permitting and compliance activities for small sources. Jack successfully streamlined permit procedures and eliminated unnecessary permit requirements. Jack was also responsible for designing the permit and compliance procedures to implement Environmental Justice Initiative #9, which assists in protecting sensitive receptors in the Basin from emissions from portable equipment. 

Melvin Zeldin

Mel has been with the AQMD for ten years and currently serves as the Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Science and Technology Advancement, with primary responsibilities for the operation of the agency's air monitoring network, laboratory, and source testing functions. He is a nationally recognized leader in air quality measurement and research programs, serving on several key state and local panels.

For the past 11 years, Mel has served as a member of the California Air Resources Board's Research Screening Committee, which oversees the ARB's extramural research program; he was recently appointed to EPA's prestigious Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) as a member of the Fine Particulate Subcommittee; he has served, for the past year and a half, as co-chair of the STAPPA/ALAPCO Monitoring Committee; and in 1997, he represented the AQMD at EPA's FACA Subcommittee on the new fine particulate standards.

During the three years of his current contract, Mel has been instrumental in the design and successful completion of several key studies. First and foremost is the landmark MATES-II study. Mel directed the field and laboratory effort from inception to its conclusion, and has served as the AQMD's lead spokesperson for this study. With the development of the new fine particulate monitoring network, he has been at the forefront of dialogue with EPA to assure that sufficient federal funding is available for the establishment and operation of the PM2.5 network, and that the network satisfies federal requirements. Under his leadership, the AQMD instituted the TEP-2000 program, collecting speciated fine particulate samples to support the upcoming 2001 AQMP; established an appropriate particulate monitoring program for the harbor area in support of the AQMD's adoption of Rule 1158; conducted a mountain area summer ozone study; implemented a special study to determine the effectiveness of an ozone catalyst at schools in the Inland Empire; embarked on a special research program, with EPA funding assistance, to determine a laboratory technique for directly measuring diesel exhaust in ambient air; and designed and conducted special sampling in and around LAX.

In addition to all these targeted programs, Mel improved the overall efficiency of the Monitoring and Analysis Division. This includes streamlining processes to review facility data reports on Continuous Emission Monitors (CEMs); updating field monitoring equipment and data recording methods to take advantage of recent technological advances; and improving field site security. During the most recent complete year of monitoring data, 1998, the data valid rate exceeded 98% -- the highest level in four years.

Elaine Chang

Elaine has been with the AQMD for over ten years, serving in progressively responsible positions, and current serves as Assistant Deputy Executive Officer in the Office of Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources, with primary responsibilities for the development of air quality management plans and policies, and rule development. During the period of her current contract, she has provided critical technical and policy support to the SIP litigation and settlement discussions. She was also instrumental in the successful development and adoption of the 1999 Amendment to the 1997 AQMP. These projects demonstrated her ability to manage complex technical and policy issues in an innovative and effective manner and to seek solutions satisfactory to all stakeholders, including state and federal agencies, and the business and environmental communities.

Elaine directed the Planning staff effort in the development of comprehensive toxic inventories and modeling analyses as part of the Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study II (MATES II) program. She was also responsible for the development and implementation of a technical enhancement program, specifically in the areas of emissions inventory and air quality modeling to provide a sound technical foundation to support the upcoming 2001 AQMP.

Elaine has led the staff effort in streamlining the AB2588 program, resulting in the completion of over 60 Health Risk Assessments last year, exceeding any of the previous years, and with fewer staff resources. She has also successfully amended several rules to address regulatory concerns or to implement the AQMP, such as Rules 1121 (Residential Water Heaters), 1130 (Printing Operations), 1104 (Wood Flat Stock), and 1106.1 (Pleasure Craft).

Larry Rhinehart

Larry Rhinehart has been with the AQMD for over 9 years and currently serves as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, responsible for Local Government Programs in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Larry is responsible for working interactively with local government officials in response to their local air quality concerns and problems. Larry’s major activities have included listening to and understanding local government needs and sensitivities, educating and helping local officials address various air quality issues that confront their communities, and influencing AQMD actions and programs that acknowledge the efforts, role and importance of local government in the overall effort to achieve clean air in the region.

During the period of Larry’s current contract, he has effectively provided information and assistance to local elected officials on such important issues as the Governing Board’s "Environmental Justice Initiatives", the "Children’s Air Quality Agenda" initiatives, Rule 1186 implementation, the Mates II Study, and the 1997 AQMP/EPA actions including the 1997 Ozone SIP Revision. He has met with mayors and council members in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and helped obtain their support in the successful campaign to obtain reauthorization of AQMD’s "Clean Fuels Program" through the legislative adoption of SB 98. He also has provided assistance and information to local governments regarding the CARB "EV Loan Program," the Carl Moyer Program, the AB 2766 Discretionary and Subvention Fund Programs, and other funding opportunities that would allow cities to attain their air quality goals.

Lee Lockie

Lee has been with the AQMD for eleven years, and currently serves as Director of Area Sources in the Office of Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources. She previously served as Director of Small Business Assistance in the Office of Public Affairs & Transportation Programs. As Director of the newly-formed Area Sources Group, she has completed an aggressive work plan for the group. An important milestone for the new group was the recent amendments to Rule 1171, Solvent Cleaning Operations, which had industry support for the emission reduction measures found in the rule.

Her approaches in the last year have led to some successes in achieving cooperation from businesses and suppliers many of who previously distanced themselves from involvement in identifying and promoting low-VOC and aqueous solutions. In addition, the car scrapping program has been actively monitored and enforced and its credibility continues to be enhanced through improved cooperation from the scrapping companies.

In addition, Lee and her staff have completed on schedule the following programs: implementation of the boiler and water heater certification program by January 1, 2000; revival of the dormant Rule 1415 Registration Program estimated to bring $240,000 in additional district revenue this year; implementation of the various locations permit program; and development of a more effective working relationship with local fire departments in administering and enforcing the open burning program. To more closely align her compensation with current responsibilities and mindful of the District's tight economic circumstances, Lee has agreed to a reduction in compensation from $104,481 to $100,460.

Lupe Valdez

Lupe has been with the AQMD for two and one-half years, serving as Deputy Executive Officer for the Office of Public Affairs & Transportation Programs. During the period of her current contract, she has successfully coordinated and implemented the Environmental Justice Initiatives which included establishment of the Town Hall meeting process, participation in City of Los Angeles Environmental Justice Forum, and hiring an Environmental Justice Coordinator; several Inland Empire Initiatives, and the Children's Air Quality Initiatives which included launching the Children’s Advisory Task Force.

In addition, she has externalized the function of our representation in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. and established the in-house assistant legislative staff function; staff the Local Government & Small Business Assistance Advisory Group, coordinate increased liaison work with local, state, and federal elected officials. She has realigned the Transportation functions upon addition of the transportation unit to Public Affairs, and reorganized and merged radio/communications staff with transportation staff. She has expanded outreach efforts to successfully incorporate local government support of the Clean Fuels Technology Program leading to reauthorization of the enabling legislation, increase communications with Sacramento and Washington staff, and streamlined outreach materials and reformatted quarterly sessions for Rule 2202 regulated businesses.

Peter Mieras

Peter Mieras is the District Prosecutor, with responsibility for the full range of prosecutorial functions and representation of the District before the Hearing Board. To ensure compensation parity with the District Counsel, and in recognition of outstanding performance, the Executive Officer proposes to adjust Peter Mieras' salary to be the same as the salary for the District Counsel.

Barry R. Wallerstein

Barry Wallerstein has been with the AQMD for 16 years and during the period of his current contract he was promoted by the Board to Executive Officer from the position of Deputy Executive Officer for the former Office of Planning, Transportation & Information Management. During his tenure as Executive Officer, Barry has managed the full range of operational functions of the AQMD with great leadership, including the adoption of SIP rules, and implementation of many innovative Board directives. He has worked diligently to improve air quality and protect the health of individuals who live and work in the region, while being sensitive to the concerns of the area's businesses.

He successfully managed negotiations with employee bargaining units to achieve a three-year agreement with union-represented employees, thereby providing workforce stability over an extended period. He reorganized the internal structure of AQMD to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness and enhanced the compliance and permit processing functions. He has overseen policy matters related to several landmark rules, e.g., architectural coatings (1113) and petroleum coke dust at area ports (1158), and played an active role in improving agency relations with the California legislature and the U. S. Congress.

Significant achievements also include the settlement of the litigation relating to the 1997 Air Quality Management Plan and adoption and pending federal approval of amendments to that Plan, passage of legislation reauthorizing the Clean Fuels program, completion of the comprehensive MATES II report analyzing community cancer risk, and significantly improved community outreach.

Several Board initiatives have been implemented in a progressive and innovative manner by the Executive Officer, including the Children's Air Quality Agenda, the Ad Hoc Inland Empire Committee recommendations, the Environmental Justice Initiatives--and the ongoing Town Hall meetings with various communities, the Permit Streamlining Task Force, and the Air Quality Investment Program to fund emission-reduction projects. Mindful of the District’s tight economic circumstances, Dr. Wallerstein has not asked for any adjustments to his current contract.

Peter Greenwald

Peter Greenwald has been with the AQMD for nineteen years and currently serves as General Counsel. During the period of his current contract, he has served the Board and staff in an outstanding manner. His leadership has guided both the District Counsel’s Office and the District Prosecutor’s Office to effectively carry out their missions. He has provided knowledgeable, prompt, and thorough advice to the Board and District staff in all areas of legal representation.

Peter has assured the legal adequacy of major Board actions including the architectural coatings amendment (Rule 1113), the solvent coatings rule (Rule 1171), and the 1999 SIP amendment and many others. He was instrumental in revising the District’s BACT Guidelines and played an important role in resolving cases with EPA involving alleged BACT violations. Finally, he played a key role in achieving the recent settlement in the SIP litigation, which provides a reasonable path to achieving clean air, while achieving unprecedented flexibility implementing SIP requirements. In supervising the District’s prosecutorial function, Peter has adhered to a philosophy of enforcement that provides an adequate deterrent to future violations, fairness to regulated sources, and prompt resolution to enforcement matters.

Since Mr. Greenwald is currently on sabbatical, and a revised salary needs to be negotiated which is consistent with the salary revisions proposed above for his deputies, an adjusted salary recommendation will be brought to the Board just prior to his return. In the interim, his current contract will be extended until October 1, 2000 without changes.

ASSISTANT DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER RECRUITMENTS:

Promotional recruitments were held for two Designated Deputy positions--Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Administrative & Human Resources and Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Information Management--both in the Office of Administration. The Executive Officer has selected the most highly-qualified candidates and recommends the Board approve the compensation package for them, as follows:

Eudora Tharp

Eudora Tharp, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Administrative and Human Resources, at the Assistant DEO salary of $105,153, effective February 21, 2000 for a term ending January 31, 2003.

As Acting Director of Administrative and Human Resources for the past year, Eudora has been responsible for directing human resources and business and building services operations. This past year’s responsibilities have included bargaining labor contracts with three bargaining units, overseeing human resources’ conversion to new PeopleSoft information management software to meet a Y2K compliance deadline, and providing administrative support regarding staff assignments and physical relocations relating to reorganizations and leasing of headquarters space. Since joining AQMD in 1988, Eudora has served as Human Resources Manager and Human Resources Analyst. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology and an M.B.A. in management. Her experience before coming to AQMD includes personnel work at San Bernardino County and work in laboratory research, as a college instructor, and as an editor.

Christopher Marlia

Christopher Marlia, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Information Management, at the Assistant DEO salary of $105,153, effective February 21, 2000 for a term ending January 31, 2003.

Chris brings over 16 years of scientific and information technology experience to this position. During this tenure, he has held progressively responsible positions in both the Planning and Information Management divisions. Joining the AQMD in 1983, he was promoted to Planning supervisor in 1987, and manager in Information Management in 1992. He has served as Acting Director in Information Management since March 1999. Throughout these assignments, Chris has demonstrated the ability to implement strategic information technologies and has cost-effectively automated and streamlined enterprise-wide activities.

Chris has been responsible for supervising several modeling projects related to AQMP development, as well as the District’s Point Source Modeling unit; in addition, he has supervised many modeling projects for rule-development and CEQA analyses. With the adoption of the RECLAIM program in 1995, he was promoted to Technology Implementation Manager in IM. Chris oversaw the migration of the District’s mission-critical data and software programs from the existing legacy system to a client-server open-relational database system and managed the development of new software programs to support business processes of RECLAIM. He successfully guided the District’s systems through a smooth rollover of the Y2K transition; migrated Banyan VINES network to the new MS Windows NT network; and implemented several other mission-critical software systems.

Chris’ strong scientific air quality background, extensive knowledge of the AQMD’s core programs, and in-depth experience in managing and implementing information technology-related functions provide him with unique qualifications for this assignment.

Proposal

Consistent with Board policy regarding compensation of Designated Deputies, and to appropriately align Designated Deputy salaries, the Executive Officer proposes to enter into the following Executive Management Agreements at the compensation stated:

• with Barbara Baird for the position of District Counsel at an increase in annual salary from $107,031 to $115,000, effective February 1, 2000, for a term ending January 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Peter Mieras to adjust his salary to $115,000, effective with the first pay period following Board approval, with no other change to his current contract;
  
  
• with LaRonda Bowen for the position of Public Advisor at no change in annual salary effective February 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2000. Because Ms. Bowen has indicated she intends to relocate to the Sacramento area and to voluntarily resign as of July 31, 2000, the provisions of the standard contract relating to severance and outsource benefits are omitted in her contract;
  
  
• with Jack Broadbent for the position of Deputy Executive Officer for the Office of Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources, at an increase in annual salary from $103,686 to $109,448, effective February 1, 2000, for a term ending January 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Melvin Zeldin for the position of Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for the Office of Science & Technology Advancement at an increase in annual salary from $101,456 to $105,153, effective February 1, 2000, for a term ending January 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Larry Rhinehart for the position of Local Government Director in the Office of Public Affairs & Transportation Programs, with no change in annual salary (plus any across-the-board increase for management employees if such should occur prior to August 1, 2000), effective August 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Elaine Chang for the position of Assistant Deputy Executive Officer in the Office of Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources, at an increase in annual salary from $101,456 to $105,153 (plus any across-the-board increase for management employees if such should occur prior to August 1, 2000), effective August 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Lupe Valdez for the position of Deputy Executive Officer in the Office of Public Affairs & Transportation Programs, at an increase in annual salary from $103,840 to $109,448 (plus any across-the-board increase for management employees if such should occur prior to August 1, 2000), effective August 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Lee Lockie for the position of Director of Area Sources in the Office of Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources, at a reduction in annual salary from $104,481 to $100,460 (plus any across-the-board increase for management employees if such should occur prior to August 1, 2000), effective August 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Eudora Tharp for the position of Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Administrative and Human Resources, at an annual salary of $105,153, effective February 21, 2000, for a term ending January 31, 2003;
  
  
• with Chris Marlia for the position of Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for Information Management, at an annual salary of $105,153, effective February 21, 2000, for a term ending January 31, 2003.
  

The Chairman proposes that the Board extend the following Executive Management Agreements:

• with Barry R. Wallerstein for the position of Executive Officer, at his current annual salary (plus any across-the-board increase for management employees if such should occur prior to August 1, 2000), effective August 1, 2000, for a term ending July 31, 2003.
  
  
• with Peter Greenwald for the position of General Counsel until October 1, 2000, with no other changes to his current contract;

The Designated Deputies whose contracts are being renewed have been informed by the Executive Officer that he is not recommending a performance payment for them at this time, and he declines the same for himself, due to the agency's overall financial situation and other considerations. Future cost of living adjustments will be according to the standard contract provision in the Executive Management Agreements and equivalent to that provided to other Management employees.

Fiscal Impacts

The cost for the current fiscal year is approximately $7,615. Sufficient funds for salaries and benefits are allocated in the current year's budget and will be allocated in future years' budgets. The proposed salaries are generally consistent with salaries previously approved by the Board and recommendations from a consultant report on management salaries. This action will also maintain salary equity within the designated deputy group by reflecting changes in responsibility under the recently revised organizational structure.

Attachments

Proposed Executive Management Agreements

(The Designated Deputy class specification to be attached to each contract is provided at the end of the package.)