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Cayucos needs a new general manager

January 14, 2025

Julie Tacker

OPINION by JULIE TACKER

It has come to the community’s attention that the Cayucos Sanitary District General Manager Rick Koon moved out-of-state several months ago. He was last seen in the office in late October.  On Thursday, the board plans to discuss Koon’s employment in closed session.

Koon’s salary has ballooned to over $260,000 a year to manage sewer and garbage for a town of 2,500. He has been working from out-of-state for several months and has no intention of returning to California.

Working remotely as a general manager for an agency that provides critical services is inappropriate. This is a precedent setting and an unacceptable arrangement.

The arrangement has deleterious repercussions for the district line staff, who are prohibited from working remotely, while Koon is permitted a special arrangement.

It is unrealistic to believe that Mr. Koon is able to fulfill the responsibilities of general manager from an out-of-state location. Operating remotely, he is unable to supervise staff fairly and adequately.

As general manager, he is the only official of the district who can hire and fire personnel.  This out-of-state management sets problematic precedence, likely reducing staff morale and creating a hostile work environment, which puts the district at risk for legal action.

Being out-of-state; he has no ability to witness the interactions of staff, giving any staff member the ability to challenge any disciplinary actions or terminations.  Being out-of-state, Koon is out-of-touch with the community, staff and district operations.

Furthermore, Koon will not be on site when the regulatory authorities make inspections of district facilities, this is not only impractical, it is unprofessional. Perhaps more importantly, Koon’s relationship with the community is embarrassing for the board and residents.

Additionally, as general manager, Koon is the only district official that can incur costs in an emergency. If he is unable to communicate on behalf of the district in a natural disaster or catastrophic event, no emergency personnel, equipment or necessary action could be engaged. Cell phone and internet service often goes down during earthquakes and wildfires. In these instances, roads may be blocked, making it difficult or impossible for Koon to respond to an emergency in a timely fashion.

In light of Koon’s out-of-state residency, his employment with the district should have been severed immediately upon his departure from San Luis Obispo County. Koon should be terminated and a local replacement found.

The public is invited to weigh in on the board’s review of Koon at the 5 p.m. Jan. 16 board meeting. The board meeting room in located at 200 Ash Avenue in Cayucos. Correspondence can be sent to ALessi@cayucossd.org.

 


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This is a case where Julie has it all wrong!

Rick Koon is the best General Manager there is!!

Rick Saved the District 10’s of millions of dollars by getting away from the City of Morro Bay Sewer Plant boondoggle as well as millions a year in operational costs forever!!!

Rick over saw the design and building of the new Cayucos Sewer plant, which came in on time and on budget!!!!

He also negotiated with Chevron to acquire their existing unused outfall line, so Cayucos is completely disconnected from Morro Bay!!!!!

Rick Koon has been the best value for Cayucos residents ever. what he’s done and still doing for the District is priceless:)

It’s not the cost it’s the value!!!!!!


2

Quit making sense.

We want to be pissed off at this guy for being competent and well paid.


2

Then why would anyone want to mess up his record by doing things that are totally out-of-line with generally accepted practices and more?


Having a “highly-paid” general manager work “full-time” for full pay, out-of-state is out-of-bounds and can be expected to raise a red flag for multiple reasons.


Why is he receiving California’s cost of living when he lives and works in another state? This is another red flag.


Your post did not say that you find his work arrangement acceptable practice for Cayucos employees or that he is allowed to receive California COLA when living/working in another state.


The board must honor its fiduciary duty and take corrective action to protect the community.


5

Working remotely is now a generally accepted practice. I don’t think his job requires taking the fecal sample tests for the district.


-4

Del probably has time on his hands and could use a few bucks.


2

This is just another example of how those in control abuse the system. Yes, if this is true, the taxpayers need to kick a field goal with this manager and revisit the residency requirements for their hired/elected staff.


10

Then again, this guy has only made the news for the outrageous salary and the location of his home. Compare that to long string of jokers heading the Los Osos CSD. I blame this on lack of administrative oversite: somewhere in a contract should have been a line saying that the person must live in the county somewhere.


24

Thanks Julie for exposing this nonsense. This guy is laughing his ass off. He needs to be terminated immediately.


19

So the Cayucos directors really like this guy. Do they know that he gets very large CALPERS payments when he retires? It is nice that they give him full pay for months while he sets up his out-of-state retirement home. What a deal!


Do the directors know they have a fiduciary responsibility to the ratepayers? Do the citizens of Cayucos know this is happening and that the board is considering extending this arrangement at this week’s meeting?


Where do you apply to be Cayucos’ general manager? I assume one can apply over the phone.


Oh yeah, I understand he is getting paid California’s Cost-of-Living while residing out-of-state.


28

$260,000 a year … over $20,000 a month….for this job? That’s indefensible.

Just how corrupt is everything these days?

I can’t understand why it isn’t obvious that this is unsustainable to everybody.

That every city and county in this state isn’t broke already escapes me . Or are they??

I would love to hear a counter argument as to why this is okay.


26

Getting down and dirty with numbers …20k per month for 2361 residents = $8.47 per resident per month.

Or looking at it another way.. 3 “dtops a day at the pool” 30 days a week = 9 cents a poo as a cost to you for his services.

Numbers Move me ;-)


0

I don’t live in Cayucos but i’ll Do the job for half the current salary and I do have General Manager operational experience.


23

You do not have to live in Cayucos or the state. You should apply.


13

Let’s see: Massive salary, special work from another state deal. Why wouldn’t this guy be terminated immediately? And the replacement should be offered 1/2 the salary. I’m sure some high school kid would love the job and do the job as well as the current grifter.


22

I agree, incompingov! Your name says it all — geez. Or maybe we could make it a school project for one of the high schools, city college, or Poly!


3

Like Bold guy above stated, the guy is still there due to an impressive past performance record on some very complex and expensive capitol projects that will affect rate payers in a positive way for decades to come. There are also some pretty complex projects still on the books including but not limited to toilet to tap, reservoir recharge, and others that no DEI or low wage low real world experience hire could handle. Julie isn’t wrong at this point in a general sense with the working remote gripe , and for someone only reading this headline the situation does sound ridiculous. He also hasn’t been in the public retirement system for very many years to my knowledge. Maybe stick to some lower hanging fruit like bashing firefighters for working out, polishing the trucks till the clear coat burns thru, and playing video games 8 days a month instead of clearing brush during down times…..


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