Valley Water CEO to step down after misconduct probe, remain on payroll

The CEO of Silicon Valley’s largest water agency will step down after a year-long misconduct investigation.

Rick Callender, who has led the Santa Clara Valley Water District since 2020 and serves as president of the California-Hawaii NAACP State Conference, will leave his $520,000-a-year post March 1. Under an agreement approved Friday by the district’s elected board, he will remain on the public payroll for another year as an adviser to board chairman Tony Estremera.

The district expects to release a redacted version of the investigative report next week.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District, also known as Valley Water, provides drinking water and flood protection to 2 million residents in Santa Clara County and is funded by water charges and taxes.

Callender went on leave in December 2024 after a female employee filed a complaint against him. Two other female employees later filed complaints. Neither the board nor Callender have publicly disclosed the nature of the allegations.

In January 2025, Callender’s attorney, Lori Costanzo of San Jose, sent a letter to the district requesting a copy of his personnel file and threatening to sue the agency for “hostile work environment, discrimination, retaliation and more.”

While Callender remained on leave, the district’s seven-member elected board hired the Cerritos-based law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo to investigate the allegations. The district’s counsel, Carlos Orellana, also retained a San Francisco crisis communications firm, Progress Public Affairs, during the controversy.

After a two-hour closed session meeting Friday, the district’s board voted 6-1 to approve the agreement. Board member Rebecca Eisenberg voted no.

Estremera described the deal as a compromise aimed at avoiding prolonged litigation.

“You can have everybody suing everybody instead of providing services to the public,” Estremera said. “We have to balance that out. Do we want to spend the next five years in litigation as part of these varying disputes? We’ve always try find a balance.”

He declined to characterize the findings of the investigation.

“The investigation is completed,” he said. “We have reports that we are going to be redacting to protect the privacy of the witnesses. We’re going to complete that at our next meeting on Tuesday, so we can allow for the release of those records.”

The secrecy surrounding the investigation drew criticism from the union representing many of the agency’s 880 employees.

“Our members who complained about the harassment still haven’t learned the outcome of the investigation and neither have we,” said Salam Baqleh, vice president of the Valley Water Employees Association. “It’s appalling that he will stay on as a special consultant and our members are still in the dark after more than a year. This is ratepayer money.”

Callender, 55, said he had done nothing wrong and was wrongfully accused by an employee who he said lashed out after facing discipline and was supported by the union.

“There was no veracity to the complaint,” he said. “I’m not retiring as a result of any of the findings. All of the accusations lacked truthfulness.”

“I was planning on retiring at the end of 2025,” he said. “I stayed on to clear my name.”

Eisenberg, who represents Palo Alto and has frequently clashed with Callender and other board members, publicly disclosed last year that he was under investigation. In posts on Medium, she wrote that multiple women had accused Callender of “serial predatory behavior” backed by written evidence — allegations he has denied.

“Allowing the top executive who has been accused of such terrible behavior by so many people to go on voluntary paid vacation is not a consequence,” she wrote. “It is unjust enrichment.”

Callender was named CEO in 2020 after a 4-3 closed-session vote, succeeding retiring CEO Norma Camacho. The vote made him the first African-American CEO in the district’s history and one of the highest-ranking African-American leaders in the U.S. water sector.

A Las Vegas native, he grew up in San Jose and graduated from Santa Teresa High School in 1988. He earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and technology from California State University, Chico in 1994. Around that time, he also worked as a campaign organizer for the California Democratic Party during Kathleen Brown’s gubernatorial campaign, and as a congressional fellow in the office of former Oakland Rep. Ron Dellums.

From 1995 to 1996, Callender worked as a special assistant to former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and was hired at the water district in 1996. He served as president of the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP from 2000 to 2008, and stepped down to attend law school. Callender graduated from Northwestern California University School of Law and, in recent years, has served as president of the California-Hawaii NAACP State Conference.

Melanie Richardson, the district’s interim CEO, will remain in place while the board searches for a permanent replacement.