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California Public Utilities Commission fires executive director after staffing dispute

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCalifornia utility regulators on Monday chose to fire their top administrative official in response to several allegedly unethical hiring decisions discussed in a recent personnel audit.Marybel Batjer, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said Executive Director Alice Stebbins had taken the “appalling and disgraceful” step of deliberately hiring a “marginally qualified former colleague” over better-suited candidates, among other claims detailed in aStebbins in retaliation for blowing the whistle on about $200 million in fees that the commission did not collect on time. But Batjer denied that claim at a public hearing, asserting that the dollar amount is far lower and the commission has not been lax with its collection efforts.And commissioners did not turn a blind eye to any fee concerns raised by Stebbins, either, Batjer said.“None of us ever ignored or attempted to slow down or interfere with your work in any way,” Batjer said at the hearing. She also said Stebbins had failed to take accountability for legitimate issues raised by the personnel audit.Commissioners deliberated Stebbins’ job status after the public hearing. Batjer announced afterward that they had unanimously voted to fire her effective Sept. 4.The commission placed Stebbins on administrative leave several weeks ago. She is prepared to sue the agency over the employment dispute about the audit, which she claims is riddled with falsehoods.“The investigators did not know, nor were they interested in learning, that the entirety of the CPUC was in massive turmoil and the operations were highly inefficient when I arrived,” Stebbins said.She stood her ground at the hearing and said there really is $200 million in fees the commission neglected to collect appropriately. The commission had created the “perfect recipe for fraud and abuse” by the utility companies it is supposed to oversee, Stebbins said. And she claimed that everyone she hired was qualified for their roles.The conflict over Stebbins’ employment has cast a rare spotlight on the internal workings of one of California’s most important regulatory agencies. With about 1,300 employees, most based in San Francisco, the commission watches over investor-owned electric and gas companies as well as telecommunications, water, rail and passenger transportation businesses.As such, the commission plays a powerful role shaping the state’s efforts to stop deadly wildfires caused by power lines and limit the intentional blackouts that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and others have implemented in the name of fire safety.Supporters of Stebbins say she has done invaluable work on the blackouts, particularly in listening to the concerns of disabled people. They have urged the commissioners to keep her in place, including during public comments at Monday’s meeting.More for youThe personnel board report paints a different picture.It focuses mostly on five hires but says that the commission hired 17 people Stebbins used to work with at the California Air Resources Board or the State Water Resources Control Board. While hiring former colleagues is not prohibited, the report stresses that recruitment needs to remain merit based. Personnel board investigators concluded that several appointments in Stebbins’ purview were “of highly questionable legitimacy.”In one instance, the investigators said Stebbins preselected a former co-worker, Bernard Azevedo, for a director job at the utilities commission and he was hired over more qualified applicants. Azevedo then received several additional divisions to oversee, inflating his salary by 49% even though his job was never re-advertised as it should have been, the report said.Two months later, the commission removed those extra divisions from Azevedo’s supervision, but his salary remained artificially inflated, the report said.Azevedo defended himself in public comments at the hearing. He accused the commission of forcing his demotion and sending him back to the air board because of the $200 million in uncollected fees that he said he and Stebbins had identified.But other people who used to work at the air board told the commission that they had similar concerns about Stebbins as those flagged by the personnel audit.Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutesStebbins insists she did nothing wrong. She said she was “truly shocked” when she read the draft version of the audit.“It was incomplete, inaccurate and contained a number of flat-out false statements,” she said.Stebbins’ attorney, Karl Olson, obtained a series of text messages that the five commissioners sent while considering her job status in light of the audit. The messages show commissioners grappling with concerns about the personnel board’s findings as well as Stebbins’ reaction.On July 8, Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen wrote that “it’s not tenable for (Stebbins) to stay” and lamented that Batjer was “really struggling with this.”Batjer on the same day texted that she “can’t imagine (Stebbins) remaining.”“I fear she is working up to a scorched earth approach,” Batjer wrote.By July 30, Batjer’s tone was more resolved.“At this point I want it in rear view mirror,” she wrote. “We have all been thru hell and back, including Alice. Time to move forward.”The commission’s attorney has said the communications he released show regulators making “a good faith effort” to tackle the “extremely concerning” audit results. But Olson said he believes the text messages only bolster his argument that the commissioners violated state open-meetings law and conspired to oust Stebbins on false pretenses.J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCalifornia utility regulators on Monday chose to fire their top administrative official in response to several allegedly unethical hiring decisions discussed in a recent personnel audit.Marybel Batjer, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said Executive Director Alice Stebbins had taken the “appalling and disgraceful” step of deliberately hiring a “marginally qualified former colleague” over better-suited candidates, among other claims detailed in aStebbins in retaliation for blowing the whistle on about $200...

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J.D. Morris

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California Public Utilities Commission fires executive director after staffing dispute

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