Former Chico City Manager Lando now running PID
PARADISE » Those who are familiar with local government officials probably know Tom Lando.
Lando, who was the city manager in Chico for nearly 14 years, is now in Paradise, as the interim general manager for the Paradise Irrigation District replacing Kevin Phillips who is now the new town manager. Lando also currently serves on the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board.
The move to PID is a unique one for Lando, who has served in an interim capacity, similar management position in Biggs and in Oroville where he served as a manager for Oroville’s Feather River Recreation District.
It seems that Lando doesn’t retire well.
In fact, he said that his wife asks him about his retirement a lot, but Lando said that he likes working part-time.
“It’s something I am honored to be involved in and I am really intrigued by this organization,” Lando said. “I would stay on longer, but I don’t want to work full-time.”
He said that in the long term, what PID needs is a full-time district manager who knows how to manage a district, the water part of it is in the hands of the employees.
“The organization has a lot of very good people, so in terms of specific about water service,” Lando said. “I certainly get a lot of assistance from the whole staff here, plus others have been helpful too.”
Lando said that PID’s state was one of the things that surprised him.
“The recovery pace is going a lot faster than Imight have expected, he said. “The other thing is that people want their water in a more immediate fashion and often their lines are damaged and need to be replaced and that does cause some frustration.”
That is caused he said by the fact that it takes some time to get that done and people want it done now. Lando noted that he’s one of those people who wants things done now.
But he adds that he’s seen some PTSD among the staff and that some didn’t want to be up there and some employees were concerned about their jobs long-term.
In fact, he says that there are only 2,000 customers down from the revenue stream of 10,500 customers that were there on Nov. 7, 2018. He said that leads to questions about the district’s viability.
He said the answer to that question is yes. The PID has some substantial insurance revenues and expects significant money from the PG&E settlement that has yet to be reached.
He said that the Trustees desire to keep the PID independent and thinks the district is self-sufficient and can avoid having to merge with any other water district public, or private. Lando noted that in addition to the 2,000 customers, another 6,500 are paying “what’s a standby charge.” He said that with that revenue and some paring down on costs, PID can remain viable.
Last year there was talk of PID shipping water to Chico as part of a regional water plan that was pushed by the governor’s office, something that got delayed by the Butte County Board of Supervisors.
However, Lando, says that deal doesn’t seemto be as pressing as it did just a year ago, but it’s still possible, saying that Sacramento State is studying the issue. But what he does sense is that no one in the district wants to be a part of CAL WATER.
He said that any attempt to do so, in his personal opinion would be rejected by the people in the district. He noted that the opposition to sending the water to Chico is centered around that water being used for growth within the county.