Director of Besieged Water Board Resigns Abruptly

As federal investigators were beginning a probe into allegations of wrongdoing at the Los Angeles area’s water quality board, the executive director of the agency resigned abruptly Friday.

Robert P. Ghirelli, 48, who headed the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, stepped down from the post he had held since 1983, without a public explanation of his reasons.

In a brief letter to the board, Ghirelli said: “I will be taking this time to explore other career opportunities and to spend more time with my family.” He could not be reached for further comment.

The resignation came during a closed-door session of the agency’s nine-member board, which was held to discuss personnel issues.

Board Chairman Jack Coe said he could not comment on whether Ghirelli had been forced to resign, but he added that he was not surprised at the decision.

“There’s been quite a bit of pressure on Bob and the staff because of criticism of these programs,” Coe said.

The agency has been under siege for months as state investigators looked into allegations of inefficiency, fraud and conflict of interest by staff members.

Ghirelli’s resignation came just weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General confirmed that it would launch an investigation into possible criminal activity at the regional board. Under review were allegations that some staff may have colluded with private consultants to inflate cleanup costs, and that a few employees may have profited from secret investments in property that would increase in value after cleanup.

However, officials with the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento have repeatedly stated that Ghirelli himself is not a target of any criminal probe.

The state board is parent to nine largely independent regional boards, which enforce the laws protecting water supplies and supervise pollution cleanup in their jurisdictions using state and federal funds.

In a series of shake-ups in recent months, several of the regional board’s employees were reassigned or demoted and others retired or resigned. The problems at the regional board began to surface more than a year ago, when whistle-blowers at the agency complained to state and federal officials about possible misconduct in the program that monitors the cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks.

About the same time, the State Water Resources Control Board became concerned about a huge backlog of underground tank cases, noting that few cleanups had been completed.

Then in May, a team of auditors from the state board swept through the Monterey Park offices of the regional water agency, where they interviewed employees and pored through records.

The result was a highly critical report that described an agency in “disarray.”

In July, the state board sent an administrator to run the regional underground tank program. Over the next four months, the tank unit closed more than a quarter of the 2,500 cases on file. But some staff members privately complained that among the cases closed were a number that represented a threat to potential sources of drinking water.

Ghirelli does have supporters.

Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay, said Friday: “As far as I’m concerned, the board needed a scapegoat for its underground storage tank problems. And it is tragic that a competent, intelligent and environmentally sound leader like Ghirelli took the fall.”