WSSC at war again over new manager

Prince George’s commissioner says candidate with top score passed over

According to Commissioner Juanita Miller, one of three Prince George’s County representatives on the six-member panel, interim deputy general manager Rudolph S. Chow, outscored the other four finalists by at least five points.

But Miller said Chow’s score did not persuade Montgomery County members to back him for the general manager job formerly held by Andrew Brunhart.

She said Montgomery commissioners balked in a meeting at the Greenbelt Marriott and tried to circumvent a process she said both counties’ members agreed to in writing.

With more than 1.6 million customers, WSSC is the state’s largest water and sewer utility, and its governing board and management have clashed for more than four years.

In 2004, commission members ousted John R. Griffin, now the Maryland natural resources secretary, and his deputy. Montgomery’s county executive at the time, Douglas M. Duncan, forced the resignations of the county’s three commission members in the wake of the Griffin dismissal. Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson made no changes to the his county’s commissioners.

Griffin’s successor, Brunhart, left in February, after the commission split along county lines and did not renew his contract.

At times, the strife has slowed work at an agency that needs billions to replace aging water and sewer pipes.

On Thursday, Miller said commissioners had agreed to written rules that if a candidate outscored others by five points he or she would be selected. If no candidate outscored the others by more than 4 points, the review would go to a second round.

‘‘I’m appalled,” Miller said. ‘‘It makes me question their integrity and their ethics. Here’s a person who’s clearly the front-runner. ... I’m not going to sit back and let this kind of unfair treatment go.”

WSSC lawyers declined to release the memo Thursday, citing concerns about the confidentiality of the selection process.

WSSC chairwoman Adrienne Mandel of Montgomery refused to discuss details of the meeting, noting that it included ‘‘personnel deliberations [that] are not public information at this point.”

‘‘We met yesterday and no selection has been made,” Mandel said.

Miller said that at the meeting Mandel said she needed to talk with Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett about the decision.

A spokesman for Leggett said Thursday that Mandel has talked with the county executive about the selection.

‘‘Where the county executive is on it is the decision has not been made,” said Patrick K. Lacefield, Leggett’s spokesman.

Johnson will be discussing the matter with Leggett soon, said John Erzen, a spokesman for Johnson.

Miller said Commissioner Gene Counihan of Montgomery argued that the rules were open to interpretation.

Counihan said he was ‘‘tempted” to ‘‘throw some light” on the matter but was bound by confidentiality policies and the fact that the discussion occurred in a closed session.

‘‘Her representation is not the way it is,” Counihan said, adding ‘‘if I start to open the door a little bit, I’m compromising.”

Miller said the executive search firm hired to find candidates and advise the agency told the commission that, in cases of ties, internal candidates are usually preferred.

She said Montgomery commissioners also tried to deny the interim general manager job to the most qualified candidate when commissioners tied over whom to appoint as interim general manager in February.

Teresa D. Daniell, hired as deputy general manager by Brunhart a few months before the commission failed to renew his contract, was then named interim general manager. She is a retired Air Force officer.

As director of the agency’s largest division, customer care, Chow was moved up to the interim deputy general manager post.

Chow, a long-time WSSC employee, and Daniell are both said to be well-liked within the agency.

The agency has been criticized for not elevating minorities to top posts. Chow is of Asian descent and Daniell is of Hispanic descent.