Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 4:48AM |  11°
MENU
Advertisement

New PWSA director’s job history comes into question

New PWSA director’s job history comes into question

Director disputes accounts that he was fired from post in 2013

Hired this week to get Pittsburgh’s water system flowing smoothly, Kenneth Charles Griffin denied Thursday that he was terminated from a similar job in 2013, despite multiple accounts and documents of his dismissal.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority late Wednesday afternoon announced the hire, as its director, of Mr. Griffin, now the top administrator for King William County, Virginia.

“From a professional standpoint, yes, there are challenges” at Pittsburgh’s water system, Mr. Griffin said. “Those are challenges that I am fortunate to have solved in past years for other utilities.”

Advertisement

Asked about his tenure as general manager at the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, a job he held from 2011 to January 2013, Mr. Griffin said he “resigned from Beaufort-Jasper. My wife had an incredible offer in Virginia that she wanted to accept.

“She took that offer, and I did resign from Beaufort-Jasper.”

Minutes from the Beaufort-Jasper board’s Jan. 24, 2013, meeting, though, indicate that following an executive session, there was a motion “to terminate General Manager Ken Griffin,” which passed unanimously. Several South Carolina newspapers reported that he was fired. Lawyers for the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority wrote in a letter to a reporter that “requested information pertaining to Mr. Griffin’s termination” would not be disclosed because doing so would “constitute an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy.”

“He was terminated,” said William R. “Skeet” Van Harten, a longtime member of the Beaufort-Jasper authority’s board, in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “His performance was unsatisfactory to our needs,” he said, explaining that Mr. Griffin didn’t get along well with other staff.

Advertisement

Told of Mr. Van Harten’s statement, Mr. Griffin said, “I promise you, I resigned.”

After the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked about the reports, Mayor Bill Peduto called for “full accountability from the [Pittsburgh water] board in regards to the vetting and hiring process.” He called for “a complete and detailed explanation of the circumstances regarding any possible error or omission.”

The Pittsburgh authority then issued a six-line statement that Mr. Griffin “provided a full resume detailing all of his positions, educational and professional achievements dating back 25 years.” The authority, according to the statement, checked references, “all of which were very positive,” and commissioned a background check, “which cleared.”

Mr. Griffin, according to the statement, “has advised us that he resigned” from one of the positions, presumably at Beaufort-Jasper.

Just one Pittsburgh authority board member, Michael Weber, could be reached by phone Thursday, and he said he had not heard about Dr. Griffin’s position at the Beaufort-Jasper authority.

Mr. Griffin’s resume, released Thursday afternoon, indicated a string of water-related management jobs throughout the South.

“He was always a tasker. He gave people assignments and held them responsible for execution,” said John Sigman, general manager for the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, where Mr. Griffin worked from 1993 to 2006. In an interview, Mr. Sigman said that Mr. Griffin dealt ably with the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the area’s water system in 2005. “He’s very energetic, and the people that worked with him and around him, he was always challenging them to do better and asking them for advice and holding them responsible for tasks.”

Mr. Griffin said he intends to start in Pittsburgh at the end of August. He will be paid $190,000 a year.

He takes over an agency that, over a decade, faced spiraling debt and bad investment bets, leaky pipes, an illegal line insurance arrangement, flooding sewers and an inability to regularly bill customers that pay it for sewer service.

Mr. Griffin takes over for interim Executive Director David L. Donahoe, who had filled the role after the previous executive director, Jim Good, resigned as the agency was dogged by customer complaints.

“I’ve successfully brought on three advanced metering infrastructure solutions,” Mr. Griffin said. “I very definitely have that experience.”

This month the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered the authority to start a program to replace its lead water lines following elevated test results.

Mr. Griffin said he has also been able to “avoid situations where water had sufficient corrosivity to cause any problems with lead and copper levels.”

First Published: July 28, 2016, 4:17 p.m.
Updated: July 29, 2016, 3:26 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Traffic passes by U.S. Steel in Braddock on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. An activist investor has accused U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt of potential insider trading as the group pressures investors to support its own plan for the iconic Pittsburgh steelmaker, which includes a new board and abandoning a planned merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel.
1
business
Ancora launches ‘Make U.S. Steel Great Again’ campaign, accuses CEO of insider trading
President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)
2
news
McCormick on board with Trump, DOGE shakeup while Fetterman blasts 'chaos, confusion'
Pitt’s Jalend Lowe (15) shoots a 3-pointer against Syracuse at the NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025 at Petersen Event Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
3
sports
Instant analysis: Opportunistic Pitt defense flips another first half deficit into win over Syracuse
Head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith watch a receivers and defensive backs drill at Steelers Minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex Thursday, June 13, 2024.
4
sports
Gerry Dulac: Next season’s major decisions loom this week for Mike Tomlin, Steelers staff
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren (30) is sacked by Baltimore Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens (21) at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland.
5
sports
Ray Fittipaldo's Steelers chat transcript: 02.18.25
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story