Paavo Ogren quits Oceano Community Services District, no notice

April 19, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

After leading the agency for three and a half months, the head of the Oceano Community Services District quit several hours after showing up for work today. This is the third time Paavo Ogren has suddenly quit a government agency in less than four years.

Interim General Manager Ogren arrived at the Oceano district office at about 8 a.m. on Friday, sent an email to staff saying he was leaving to fulfill a personal commitment and left at about 10 a.m., said Carey Casciola, Oceano account manager.

Ogren is the third official to quit Oceano in less than seven months.

Following a meeting rife with interruptions and refusals to abide by the Brown Act, the attorney firm representing the Oceano Community Services District resigned on Oct. 11, 2023. Attorney Daniel Cheung, with the firm Adamski Moroski Madden Cumberland & Green, quit after chastising a board member for violating public meeting laws.

A few weeks later, during an Oct. 25 district board meeting, then General Manager Will Clemens announced plans to retire at the end of 2024 because a change in the makeup of the board has made his job untenable.

The board then selected Ogren to temporarily replace Clemens. The board is in the process of selecting a new general manager.

Ogren has a history of abruptly quitting government agencies.

At the beginning of the Aug. 11, 2021 SLO County Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA) meeting, the authority’s attorney informed the board that then Executive Director Paavo Ogren had quit prior to the meeting. Ogren had lasted less than a month.

On Jan. 12, 2022, the IWMA board again appointed Ogren to the interim executive director position at a salary of $186,120 a year, a position he vacated in May 2022.