The resignation of Rick Callender as CEO of Valley Water, Santa Clara County’s primary water agency, on March 1 was followed by the release of findings of an investigation that corroborated multiple allegations that he violated district workplace and ethics policies, including those involving sexual harassment.
In late February, days before his resignation, the Valley Water board voted 6-1 to retain Callender as a special adviser for one year, allowing him to keep his $512,886 salary.
Callender, who joined the agency in 1995 and became its first African American CEO in May 2020, framed his departure as a retirement: “With deep gratitude and respect, as Black History Month draws to a close, I write to formally announce my retirement from Valley Water.”
Today, March 17, Callender released the following statement, describing himself as a “CEO on the warpath after becoming the target of a devastating ouster campaign spearheaded by one disgruntled board member.” Here is Callender's full statement:
“I am Rick Callender and I have served as CEO of Santa Clara Valley Water District since 2020. I am fighting to clear my name and restore my reputation following a $943,000 so-called “investigation” that sought to prove sexual harassment.
There is a larger story here.
This was an investigation by a law firm that showed bias throughout but, most significantly, failed fairness standards on a handful of serious allegations. I am not alone. A senior member of staff filed an internal complaint with Valley Water’s Board of Directors in February 2025 about bias ingrained in the report.
These cases of significant bias led to findings that ignored exculpatory information and context while focusing on testimony described in some instances as not fully credible.
A larger share of the report was a pile-on of annoyances and petty grievances that did not merit any investigation, much less a nearly $1million probe.
I know it’s difficult to climb on board with someone accused of sexual harassment. It’s far easier to accept such a pronouncement and look the other way.
But I have devoted myself to Valley Water for some three decades,becoming the district’s first African American CEO. Like any CEO who takes such a task seriously, I was unflinchingly dedicated to the District.
I am writing to you because I believe you are a reporter willing to look beyond a superficial investigation and consider the full context.
I am willing to share my knowledge about how one of seven district directors, Rebecca Eisenberg, was a catalyst for the investigation and, in fact, sought to orchestrate the complaints.
Here is a brief summary of just two episodes treated by investigators as scandalous in which impactful context was absent:
- A so-called “crotch photo” showing how I dressed waist-down during the Covid years was, in reality, a photo of my sweatpants, with my seated legs as the centerpiece. No crotch was visible. The report mischaracterized that photo and neglected to include context of why the photo was shared.
- The investigators cited a text that I wrote stating, “You never know.” They shamefully left a faulty insinuation that I was hinting at a future sexual relationship. In its entirety, the text read: "You never know if I need help.” The context was “help” watering plants when I was out of town.
The report included other similar examples of bias – episodes mischaracterized by investigators who failed to include exculpatory context.
I want to take a step back to write that I have been, and I remain,devoted to the district, its fiscal health and to the community that it serves. I grew up in San Jose. I am a member of the California State Bar, and I am president of the California/Hawaii NAACP State Conferences, with 57 branches.
Was I too casual with a handful of employees, each of whom was a subordinate? Probably. Did I sexually harass anyone?
The answer is simple: I did not.
The majority of the board has demonstrated its support for me. In fall2024, while on leave during the investigation, the board maintained my full pay. The probe dragged on for 11 months — a stretch that aggravated the harm to my reputation.
Nonetheless, I retired from the district on March 1 under amicable terms, with a one-year contract extension in exchange for my guidance in the district’s upcoming transition to a new CEO.
I am grateful to the majority of district directors who have remained supportive over the years.”
Rick Callender is one of the biggest goldbricks I have ever seen. He managed to be paid for 2.2 years for doing nothing. It’s an insult to any employee anywhere who actually does work. Did this guy even know anything about water? His primary qualification seems to be leadership of the NAACP.
I can understand when a board has written a year of severance into an employment contract if the employee is fired without cause, but when there is cause, the board shouldn’t give in. Valley Water obviously ran itself with Rick Callender on leave. Once the investigation concluded, the board should’ve kicked him to the curb for cause. He’s full of baloney and doesn’t have the guts to fight.
The Valley Water board is 6/7 cowards and wastrels. I wish they’d go with Rick on permanent vacation to Hawaii.
P. S. Would SJI please post a link to “the release of findings”?
What a silly report. Of course the dude is saying “I didn’t do it” … the fact is that he DID do it and had a history of it even when he was appointed to the job! Read the report and watch the Board meeting where staff let the Board members have it. This was embarrassing.
Until the Board members resign in shame and the complying senior staff leave, this organization will be nonfunctional.
This guy is PATHETIC. He’s so desperate to “clear” his name that he’s downright gaslighting the women whose complaints were SUSTAINED. He’s calling the investigation biased?? What about the hundreds of employees who showed up to the Board meeting to finally stand up to this narcissist? What about the countless other employees he’s terrorized and harassed who are still afraid to speak up because he sent out that idiotic “Friends of Rick Callender” email basically threatening anyone speaks up that he’ll sue them for defamation. Are they making up their horrific experiences under this guy’s toxic leadership? You know who should be sued? Him – for wasting public funds. Now, who is going to call out the fact that this guy is a CEO but has that much time on his hands to constantly message these women throughout the day? Stand around their cubicles to gossip? What in the world is he getting paid $500K+ a year to do? This guy used to host “town hall” meetings and spends his time giving “shout outs” to employees for giving Kudos out. He has that much time on his hands that he’s scrolling through social media all day long. The guy must have been a loser in high school and was trying to turn Valley Water into his own high school experience. He had yearbooks made!! What a waste of money!! This guy knows nothing about managing a water agency. He went to an unaccredited law school (but tries to call himself ESQ) and he’s a public relations guy (a clearly bad one because he can’t even handle his own PR right now). Is that why he got that moronic board to hire him an ASSISTANT CEO?! in the 90+years of that agency, they have NEVER ONCE hired an assistant CEO and this incompetent idiot gets hired and they bring on another CEO to do the work while he sits around harassing employees on Facebook messenger. And now you want to give him a platform to clear his name? He is disgusting. He employs these Trump-like tactics: bullies people, harasses women, promotes his incompetent buddies (start looking at his inner circle of morons that he promoted – aka Friends of Rick Callender), and then when someone tries to stand up to him, he sues them. And to cry racism? This guy is a stain on Black History Month and should be ashamed of himself. The woman from the Justice Collective was the most poignant speaker. This man has been harassing people and creating a hostile work environment for years and the Board and those senior leaders who saw the results of that report knew it and are complicit in the harassment of the employees at Valley Water. Not only should they all be fired, the complainants should reverse uno on Callender and sue him and his cronies. This is disgusting, and shame on your San Jose Inside for letting him put his garbage out there on this platform!
Callender was appointed to the board of San Jose Spotlight. Then he just disappeared from their website and when I mentioned it in their comments section I was told he hadn’t been a board member for quite some time. That was it. No mention of him stepping aside, or down or anything. I kept pressing them over this and they ultimately banned me from comments.
Ask the wrong question and the media will silence you.
This is laughable. Is this guy for real? You are (or were) a CEO of a billion dollar public agency, you didn’t think being too casual with employees would get you into trouble? Are you that dumb or that desperate? Being casual is one thing, but from the sounds of that report, you were being a creep with the constant baiting and texting of these women. What in the world did you think when you texted “Showered yet?” to an employee? You have no business being a CEO if you thought that was ok. I want my tax dollars back, Rick Callender. You not only should be paying these women you harassed but you owe all of us restitution for the incompetence you brought to a job that was (and still is) paying you half a million dollars a year!
This letter reeks of desperation from a delusional narcissist. The answer is simple – believe women. He claims there was irreparable harm to his reputation yet everything we’ve seen speaks for itself. Dozens of employees came out against him, including people from the outside, including people from the NAACP. His reputation speaks for itself. The night before the public board meeting he sent a threatening email claiming to legally come after anyone who would speak against him, by means of some goon-created account titled “friends of Rick Callender.” But really, how many friends showed up for him the next day? Not one.
A senior member of staff claimed bias in the investigation? Which one? One of the incompetent goons he promoted under his reign? A majority of directors supported him? Sure, the ones he spent decades in cahoots with? Or course they were going to endorse him after he worked endlessly to keep them in office for literal decades. Remember the ballot measure a few years ago launched under this cretin’s direction to actually extend board members’ service years by adding another 4-year term? A grand jury report called it disingenuous and intentionally misleading.
He cries witch hunt now that all the dirty laundry has come out to air. But just a few years ago he led an inquisition to find out who had spoken against him in an anonymous consultant led survey. The survey was carried under the purview of one of his most heinous and incompetent cronies promoted out of sheer loyalty. The consultant and owner of the firm spoke at the 3/10 board meeting, giving her account of how persistent this man was to track down and retaliate those who dared criticize him. Mind you this is a woman of color. His cries about racial bias are utterly bull against all the evidence made public. Again — believe women. She went on to give her detailed account on social media: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8V4chm7/
And he dare gripe about an ongoing investigation with a million dollar price tag when he has spent a similar amount of, if not more of Valley Water – public funds – coming after Eisenberg, the only board member to see through his corrupt leadership. He continues this ongoing battle. And the board chair Estremera, Callender’s esteemed friend, has no shame in claiming Eisenberg’s actions embroiled the agency into this legal battle. In reality she was the only one decent enough to call out not only Callender’s but the board’s reckless decisions. Shameless. Mind you Estremera has been in this public position for 30 YEARS. The same amount of time as Callender. Coincidence? I think not. No public position should be held for 30 years. These two are as close as Jeffrey and Donald.
As the previous comment pointed out, there was no “Assistant CEO” until this creep became CEO. Of course he wasn’t qualified for the job and had to have someone run the agency while he harassed women and traveled on VW dime to NAACP conferences on non-VW business only to retaliate and harass NAACP employees as well. He should be sued and pay his fines or time for embezzlement of public funds. Instead he got a year plus of paid leave, and an additional year of more than half a million in salary. While VW continues with a hiring freeze, draining employees to advance projects all the while paying the salaries for 3 CEOS – Callender, an interim CEO and an assistant CEO. What a joke.
Now what? If this agency has any hope of surviving this mess it needs to clean house starting with those enablers on the board and the goons promoted under Callender’s term. Many of them women by no coincidence. This creep gave them sweet salaries to hold power over them while they carried out the same oppressive and retaliatory tactics — harassing, disparaging and punishing employees. Watch when their head comes to the chopping block, they will cry foul as victims too. But they sure took that paycheck and title, didn’t they? Traded all decency and ethics for a piece of the golden pie.
This article is a laughable piece. Callender reaching out to Barry Holtzclaw reads “You seem like a fair guy … you’re a man, you get it.” He’s running out of options to clean up this mess. Watch Jessica Aguirre’s interview with him live while he flounders trying to explain his creepiness. https://youtu.be/aob5ncZkBBU?si=HM5anpiVsAm8BzQb
The worst part is however damaged his reputation is he gets to laugh (or mope) all the way to the bank and enjoy a cushy pension for decades, while many of us are being squeezed out living in the Bay Area. Your public tax dollars at work ladies and gentlemen!