Page 109 - CCWD - GM - AMB #2 07 15 19

Piret Harmon Applicant Materials Binder

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 9:06 AM

Coastside County Water District
General Manager
Pre­Screen Questions (45­minutes)
July 2019

1. Have you been active in your search, and if so why? Also, Why are you interested in the GM
opportunity with Coastside County Water District?

I have been active for the last year. I feel that I have accomplished what I wanted to get done in
Scott's Valley ­ I want to bring my experience somewhere else and my desire to make things happen
in other placed. It's a lot to bring to other agencies. Whey this specific agency. I think that it is a
good match. The size of agency. It is a new area ­ new networks and things to learn.,

2. Please describe your most recent position and day­to­day responsibilities.

I report to a Board of Director of five people ­ twenty employees. We do not resell ­ we have to get
it ourselves ­ dealing with wells, operations. I deal with people ­that's on my shoulders ­ to make
sure we have appropriate resources to do the work. I make sure people are recruited appropriately,
that they are compensated appropriately, that they are recruited. The financial side ­ we are on a
financial budget ­ capital improvement budget varies from 2­5 million per year.

3. How many employees do you supervise? Who do you report to? How do you describe your
leadership style?

Twenty staff. Report directly to the Board. A servant­leader. I like to visualize that the pyramid is
turned around and that I like to make sure that my people have the resources to do the job well. I
trust people but I also keep them accountable to do the job, I want to enable them. I do enable
them to put their brains and their brauns to good use. I want people to bring their ideas and their
problems to me. There is dialogue on all levels. Every year

4. Tell us about the riskiest or most difficult management decision you have made in recent
years. What was your thought process that led you to move forward? Would you do
anything differently today?

We have a purple pipe system ­ with Scotts Valley. We formed a partnership with the City.
They are the producer and we are the distributor. When we started the agreement the City
was not coming into the negotiation the same way. We had a third partner, a golf course,
interested in getting the water delivered to them. We had multiple parties with different
issues in mind. I had to put myself in other partners shoes ­ it was really hard to go out and
say well ­ I should be thinking about myself. If I don't move at all ­ then I will need to pivot.
We got a deal where we got 50% of the proceeds by selling the water to the private party. I
feel like we should have gotten more ­ but at least we got the half and had an agreement.

CCWD | General Manager
5. Please describe your experience in coordinating, tracking and reporting out on the

109