Outgoing DWP chief Nahai would keep full salary as consultant under proposal

Officials at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials plan to give a consulting contract to the outgoing general manager of the power agency that would pay him the same salary he was earning as the DWP's top executive.

Just days after he resigned, David Nahai is slated to receive nearly $6,300 per week as a consultant to the utility.The DWP commission, whose five members are appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss the plan.

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.”

Nahai did not return a call to his home seeking comment. 

Villaraigosa spokesman Matt Szabo confirmed that Nahai will continue to earn his current salary, $326,686.

Under that scenario, Nahai would earn nearly $82,000 by Dec. 31 as a consultant. [Updated at 2:34 p.m.: The contract would end at the close of 2009.]

Councilman Greig Smith, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley, said he would have a problem with the consulting contract if Nahai was also drawing a salary from the Clinton Climate Initiative, where he has taken a position as a senior adviser.

“I would be opposed to that, because it’s double dipping,” he said.

Villaraigosa has asked the commission to name Deputy Mayor S. David Freeman, the former DWP general manager, as the utility’s top executive for the next six months. The DWP’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for Freeman’s proposed salary.

Alpert said Nahai's contract does not require a vote by the commission. Nevertheless, he said he wanted the matter on today’s agenda for transparency and described the contract as “a very normal type of business transaction when a general manager of an organization resigns.”

“He may have knowledge we want to pick his brain on,” Alpert said.

-- David Zahniser

Photo: David Nahai in his DWP office in August. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Previously on latimes.com

Battered by criticism, H. David Nahai resigns from DWP

Environmentalist chief looks for bright future at DWP

Comments

[keith]

Wow this city's great (if you're exec) when stepping down or getting fired you get a ton of cash. LAUSD exec or LADWP cha-ching & there's others who get a nice buyout too. Perhaps some even deserve it after many years of service.

Besides, thought Nahal took another job so he could leave this one.

[bill]

This is idiotic. What value is "institutional knowledge" of a manager who failed in his duties. There seems to be an outsized sense of entitlement among our American bureaucrats and those board members who are supposed to be overseeing them.

[kooo]

I hope "Institutional knowledge" means which water pipes need to be fixed pronto first before it erupts and floods streets and businesses again. Or maybe she meant "how to keep raising prices but deliver lower service" and get a golden parachute in the process.

[Ramon]

How can the City allow such criminal action to take place when the city is broke? Sounds like B. Parks ans his gang are at it again, taking the city for a raid in the general fund account.

[Nancy Stefani]

You want to pick his brain? Why at $6,000.00 per week do you want to consult with the person who has been in charge while the whole infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate. Haven't you heard? There are water lines bursting all over the Valley, did our hansomely paid DWP chief think that 100 year old infrastructure does not need maintainence? Doesn't sound like we got our money's worth, in the past maybe we can do better?

[dzzrtRatt]

Yeah, but... probably cheaper than paying the legal bills in a wrongful termination lawsuit.

It's 10 weeks. The city has gotten itself into much longer-term "consulting contracts" of this nature with failed department heads.

The problem in City Hall is not the firings, it's the hirings.

[Nat]

“He MAY have knowledge we want to pick his brain on,” Alpert said.

For that kind of consulting salary, you better be picking his brain on a daily basis. This is ridiculous!

[NarNar]

Such hypocracy... these guys are crooks. We can't afford to pay teachers but this guy is making $82K by December.. WORKING PART TIME. NICE WORK Antonio Villaretardo, another one of your cronies just got paid. How are the children in city??? Getting any smarter? You are such a douche.

[kooo]

Isn't it ironic that the banner ad above right now is for water conservation and the banner repeatedly asks "do you know how to move the needle" (the water reserve needle) and suggests different ways to conserve water? Well, since the water main will blow up and flood your driveway as well as the whole house, you certainly wouldn't want to do that! How bout less marketing and "consultations" and more hiring of field workers and pipes?

[Helena]

Are you kidding me??? Some agencies FORBID hiring an employee who leaves the job, for at least two years!! No wonder LA stinks so bad! LADWP grab your cajones and scream - goodbye to bad rubbish!!!

[Bernie]

And we all wonder why this city is broke??? Where can I sign up for a job like that? You have a broken infrastructure and it seems that pipes are breaking daily. What a job well done!!

[Diego]

“He may have knowledge we want...” or, he may not.

You can rule out people skills or running DWP from the type of information Nahai keeps in his head.

Whatever useful knowledge is left can probably be written down on a note pad for far less money.

[JIM]

What a joke and a fraud .If this was the lib’s Gov. Personal money. They wouldn’t make deals like this. Being tax payer dollars it’s a free for all

[Daniel]

A predetermined rate should be established so when questions or situations arise then and only then call on Nahai. He then bills for his time. If managed correctly it should be far cheaper than $82K but I am sure someone will figure out how to get to the $82K. This is just wasteful and has our schools and students suffer others just cannot figure out fast enough how to give it away. Poor Management of Financial resources.

[Wes L]

This is a bunch of b.s. This guy couldn't run the DWP, so he quit. Now the city wants to pay him our money as a consultant. What is he going to consult on? How to do a bad job. This is just payola and should be stopped. Better yet, Nahai should show some class and refuse to accept any consulting job thrown at him by the DWP.

[Marlena]

Insanity! City of Los Angeles morons in charge need to be put in straight jackets or arrested. This fool ran the DWP in the ground and made sure no improvements to infastructure were made until the pipes literally bursted - that is no way to run things.

[DRE DAWG]

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!! Alpert, if you think this is a "reasonable business decision" you need to resign as well!!! I understand you need him to stay on to help with a smooth transition, but he's consulting, right?! He'll be saying "Yes, that's how we do it", "No, you should review our policy on that", "Yes, the bathrooms are down the hall and to the left." HE SHOULD GET 1/2 HIS SALARY BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY HE'D BE DOING MORE THAN 1/2 OF HIS PREVIOUS WORK LOAD.

"He MAY have knowledge we want to pick on"???!!! He better have for $6,300/week!!!

You guys are really removed from how a government business should run...you are accountable to the people you serve because we pay the fees, we pay taxes, we get our homes flooded when water mains break!!!

You want to raise our water fees again and you're paying this joker $6,300/week??!!

[Helen Hill]

This is absolutely immoral! How can they give the guy a consulting contract after he resigns? This is so highly inappropriate it makes my blood boil!

How about they use that money instead to help fix the pipes?!

Gawd. The politics of this town never ceases to astonish me.

[Antonio V.]

I can almost read Mr. Nahai's thought in the picture above.
It's something like :

He,he,he! or
Cha-ching! or
What 10% unemployment? or
What furloughs and layoffs? or
Suckers!

[Big Jim Slade]

How about NO?

No wonder this state/city/county are all broke! The DWP worked just fine before his arrival, and will work just fine after.

Thank you very much, and goodbye,

Big Jim Slade

[Theresa]

Well, if this isn't criminal, what is? It is also obscene.
This guy looks like a thug. Maybe they are afraid of him?
I certainly would be if he looked at me that way.

[CB]

So, not only are they sucking the water out of the ground, but they are sucking the souls & money out of their customers. Shame on them...
It is really time for people to get off the grid. I have a friend who converted his house to solar. Everything is on it - lights, appliances, water heater and a drip system for watering his plants & lawn.

[Brad]

What a waste of tax payers money. Our city of Los Angeles is going to pay Nahai $6,300.00 per week as a consultant, when this man can't even do the job he was hired to do in the first place.

This amounts to nothing less than a misuse of tax payer funds by mayor Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles city counsil. This is a perfect example of how out of control our state of California has become.

[Net]

I thought the city is broke. What great idea do you want to get from him? Everything about the DWP is falling apart. Shouldn't this great idea you want to get from him been done while he is in office? This is outrageously moronic.

[MM stuck in L.A.]

And the city is worried about a budget deficit and is hemming and hawing about laying personnel off? Start at the top, folks. Oh, and approve early-outs for ALL city departments, including DWP.