The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is set to hold a closed-door meeting Thursday to discuss accusations by the agency’s chief financial officer that General Manager Adel Hagekhalil has harassed, demeaned and sidelined her and created a hostile work environment.
Chief Financial Officer Katano Kasaine made the allegations in a letter to the board.
“Throughout my nearly 30 years of government service, I have encountered toxic work environments, but none as hostile and dysfunctional as Metropolitan,” Kasaine said in the May 27 letter, which was obtained by Politico and later released by the district. “Despite my tireless dedication and outstanding performance ratings, it has become incredibly stressful to even show up for work. I am constantly scrutinized, sidelined, and demeaned for standing up against issues that are not in Metropolitan’s best interest.”
A special meeting was scheduled while Hagekhalil was traveling in Singapore for a water conference. According to the board meeting agenda, the closed session will include a review of Hagekhalil’s performance as well as a discussion of potential discipline or dismissal.
Hagekhalil responded to the accusations in a text message, saying, “I have always upheld the highest standards of integrity and promote that for our entire staff at Metropolitan. I truly treat everybody with respect, always, and nobody in my office has been mistreated. Any claim to the contrary is false.”
He said the claims are “disagreements on management decisions.”
“When I started at MWD, I increased Katano’s responsibilities on an interim basis, and as CFO, she has had an important leadership role in recent MWD actions, including overseeing the agency’s adoption of a two-year budget and development of a long-range financial plan,” Hagekhalil said.
MWD is the nation’s largest wholesale supplier of drinking water, serving cities and agencies that supply 19 million people across Southern California.
MWD Board Chair Adán Ortega, Jr. said board members were “made aware of situations potentially affecting individuals important to its operations and administration.”
“The Board takes its role in protecting the integrity of the organization, its employees and our collective mission very seriously,” Ortega said in a written statement. “While such matters are confidential under the government code, the Board of Directors will seek during its meeting to resolve the situation fairly, swiftly and in a timely way.”
Kasaine wrote in the letter that she has been “maligned, harassed, bullied, and sidelined from my core responsibilities.” She said Hagekhalil’s “preference for male colleagues/staff over me has continued to sow the seeds of sexism and belittling.”
She also criticized Hagekhalil’s hiring of a team of trusted, highly paid consultants, calling it “an entire shadow leadership team, wielding more power than those holding official titles.”
Kasaine said Hagekhalili has told her that she will no longer have oversight responsibilities leading the district’s human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion offices.
“Taking these core services from me without any justification or reason is highly suspect and leads me to believe it is retaliation for speaking up on key concerns,” Kasaine wrote in the letter.
