MPWMD hires first-ever assistant general manager.

The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District announced today, March 17, that Mike McCullough is coming on as assistant general manager, a new position the district's board created last August. 

McCullough, who has lived in the area for over 25 years, is currently director of external affairs at Monterey One Water, where he’s worked for 13 years. His last day at M1W is April 2 and he’ll start with the district in early April. 

In a statement about the hiring, MPWMD General Manager Dave Stoldt said, “The District conducted a national search for a dedicated water professional, and the top candidate was literally next door at Monterey One Water." (The two agencies are headquartered next to each other in Ryan Ranch). 

In his time at M1W, McCullough’s work was focused on advancing the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project, the expansion of which is expected to come online this fall, bringing the project’s production capacity to 5,750 acre-feet annually, nearly two-thirds of the Peninsula’s current water demand. In his work on Pure Water Monterey, McCullough was critical in securing $80 million of federal and state grants to bring the project to fruition.

When asked about the reasons for creating the new position, Stoldt says that after voters approved Measure J in 2018 to pursue a public buyout of Cal Am (if feasible), the district’s resources have been stretched thin with managing both the district’s day-to-day operations as well as moving the ball forward with the buyout process. And now, with the near-completion of the PWM expansion, Stoldt is doing all he can to convince the state to lift the 2009 cease and desist order against Cal Am that precludes setting new waters within Cal Am’s service area. 

As to whether McCullough might ultimately take Stoldt’s place, Stoldt says all the candidates interviewed were told they could potentially take his position if all goes well. As for Stoldt, he says he’ll stay for at least another two years for the bench trial portion of the attempted buyout, where a judge determines whether or not the district is legally empowered to buy out Cal Am’s local system. If the judge affirms that right, the trial then goes to a valuation phase to determine how much the system is worth. 

Stoldt, who came to the district from an investment banking background, had hoped to be around for that too—he still might—but he says the process has taken longer than he’d hoped.