San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) recently announced it has approved a contract for Brian Frus to be interim general manager, succeeding General Manager Rick Rogers, who retired in November after working for the District for 48 years.
Frus, a registered civil engineer who lives in Felton, has worked for the City of Salinas as the Manager of the Water, Waste and Energy division since 2017.
“The District is fortunate that a local resident with Brian’s exceptional resume stepped forward to take on this important role,” said Mark Smolley, SLVWD Board president. “We’re confident Brian has what it takes to ensure our critical infrastructure projects continue to move forward, our commitment to transparency is maintained, and our planning for fiscal sustainability remains a core focus.”
In his role with the City of Salinas, Frus has served as a stakeholder on advisory and technical committees, where he is responsible for issues pertaining to groundwater sustainability, source water supply, stream restoration, seawater intrusion, flood control and regulatory policy. He successfully led a grant application effort, in close coordination with a partner agency, to fund improvements to Salinas infrastructure for capture and reuse of stormwater and recycling of industrial wastewater.
The Board of Directors approved his six-month, $93,000 contract at its meeting on Nov. 2. Frus started work at SLVWD on Nov. 20, taking over for Carly Blanchard, the District’s Environmental Programs Manager, who was serving as acting general manager on a temporary basis.
The District’s Board of Directors continues its process to select a permanent general manager. Smolley noted that Frus would be considered for the permanent position.
San Lorenzo Valley Water District continues to recover from the CZU Fire in 2020 and damage caused by the atmospheric rivers that pummeled the region in early 2023.
The District is undertaking more than $13 million in capital improvement projects through its Safeguarding San Lorenzo Valley program to upgrade aging infrastructure, some of which was damaged by the CZU Fire. The work includes replacing undersized pipelines, fire hardening, building larger water tanks and adding fire hydrants to improve water supply resiliency and increase firefighting capabilities.
SLVWD, located in the mountains of northern Santa Cruz County, serves more than 7,500 metered connections. Established in 1941, the district supplies water to the communities of Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Zayante, Quail Hollow, Scotts Valley, Whispering Pines, Manana Woods and Felton.
