Nahai steps down, but hired as "consultant," at same pay? How much sense does that make?

DWP is planning to get Nahai back on board as a consultant after he resigned last week as General Manager, and he's going to be getting about the same pay, according to the latest news on the situation.

How wacky is that? And it's all paid for by the "rate payers," in other words, people who use water and electricity in the city. So over $300,000.00 per year was the GM's salary for full time work. Now, the same pay and only as a "consultant" AND he's going to be keeping his new job with the Bill Clinton organization. Does the phrase, "double dipping" ring a bell? No way Nahai is doing work every hour of every work day, and STILL get paid for the gig with Clinton.

A good idea I heard is pay Nahai HOURLY, with documentation to support the billings. This would pay Nahai for ACTUAL work done and would be a much better deal for rate payers. Does anyone in these offices ever happen to think about the benefit to the rate payers FIRST and not creating goldmines for outgoing pals? There is so much that doesnt' sound right on this deal, like so many DWP items of the past.

There is a question of the need for Nahai to remain. This "need" may come from NOT training anyone to step up to handle the job in the event (as here) that Nahai would leave. So you can bet that this resignation and following events was not a sudden decision by Nahai.

Another point here to add in to the mix is that David Freeman, the planned temporary replacement for Nahai, was in the position HIMSELF as a DWP General Manager. So, he SHOULD have some idea of what to do- and if they all don't have enough ability to do the job, they should get a reduced pay rate instead of everyone in sight being able to draw a paycheck at top dollar and DWP is not up to speed yet.

It almost sounds like some kind of a joke: "How many top-paid people does it take to perform the duties of one General Manager?"" Like most things handled by City Council and Mayor Tony, the joke is on us. Not a good time to be shovelling cash out the door but the tradition with DWP operations makes that a hard habit to break.

The L.A. TIMES story reports "Outgoing DWP chief Nahai would keep full salary as consultant under proposal," Oct. 5, 2009 by David Zahniser, reporter, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/outgoing-dwp-executive-nahai-would-keep-full-salary-as-consultant-under-proposal-.html

"DWP commission President Lee Kanon Alpert said he personally asked Nahai to stay on as a consultant, saying such agreements are normal when an agency’s executives are in transition."

“'There’s nothing nefarious about it, nothing complex about it. This is a reasonable business decision, nothing more than that,' Alpert said. 'David’s resigned, and we need his institutional knowledge for the next few months.'"

Mayor Sam's blog calls it, "Proposed Consulting Gig at Full Salary for Out-going DWP GM H. David Nahai."
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/ The news has provoked a lot of comments, and as usual, some people are taking the side that this is not unusual.

More on this later- tomorrow, the DWP Commission will vote to approve this-

These are the persons that decide all this for you (Commissioners’ Page)

The AGENDA for Tuesday’s SPECIAL MEETING - 12:30pm, 10-6-09
BOYLE HEIGHTS TECHNOLOGY YOUTH CENTER
1600 E. 4th STREET
LOS ANGELES, CA 90033