On Thursday, City Manager Marc Ott announced his choices in the search to replace Roger Duncan as General Manager of Austin Energy. All three are from small California utilities and two of the three are operated under the Southern California Public Power Authority.
The finalists are Ronald Davis, General Manager, Burbank, Calif., Water and Power; Larry Weis, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Turlock, Calif., Irrigation District; and David Wright, General Manager, City of Riverside, Calif., Public Utilities. The Burbank and Riverside utilities are part of a group of public utilities formed to finance the construction or acquisition of large-scale energy projects.
Panels from city management will interview these candidates on June 30, with a public forum scheduled for that evening. Ott will presumably make a selection by mid-to late July.
In picking the Californians, Ott passed over the three candidates who currently work at Austin Energy—Karl Rábago, Cheryl Mele and Kerry Overton. Environmentalists and some Council members expressed shock on Thursday that those selected were not better known.