On Nov. 3, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District announced an approved a contract with Brian Frus to be interim general manager, succeeding General Manager Rick Rogers, who retired after working for the district for 48 years.
Frus, a registered civil engineer, lives in Felton and started Nov. 20, taking over from Carly Blanchard, the district’s environmental programs manager. He has a six-month contract for $93,000.
Brian Frus
He comes from the City of Salinas where he was manager of the Water, Waste, & Energy Division since 2017.
“The District is fortunate that a local resident with Brian’s exceptional resume stepped forward to take on this important role,» said Mark Smolley, SLVWD board president. “We’re confident Brian has what it takes to ensure our critical infrastructure projects continue to move forward, our commitment to transparency is maintained, and our planning for fiscal sustainability remains a core focus.”
He noted that Frus would be considered for the permanent position as the board pursues recruitment of a permanent general manager. Applications are due Dec. 11 with the consultant, Ralph Andersen & Associates.
In Salinas, Frus was a stakeholder on advisory and technical committees, responsible for issues pertaining to groundwater sustainability, source water supply, stream restoration, seawater intrusion, flood control and regulatory policy. He successfully led a grant application effort, in close coordination with a partner agency, to fund improvements to Salinas infrastructure for capture and reuse of stormwater and recycling of industrial wastewater.
The San Lorenzo Valley Water District continues to recover from the CZU Fire in August 2020 and damage caused by atmospheric rivers in early 2023.
The district is undertaking more than $13 million in capital improvement projects to upgrade aging infrastructure, some of which was damaged by the CZU Fire. This includes replacing undersized pipelines, fire hardening, building larger water tanks and adding fire hydrants to improve water supply resiliency and increase firefighting capabilities.
Discussion of rate hikes will take place at the Dec. 7 board meeting.
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The San Lorenzo Valley Water District in the mountains of northern Santa Cruz County serves more than 7,500 metered connections, including some in Scotts Valley.