The leader of the $1.2 billion public agency charged with transforming San Diego’s energy supply was nowhere to be seen at a meeting of its board on Thursday.
Instead, San Diego Community Power’s chief operating officer, Jack Clark, stood in as acting chief executive officer – the position held by Karin Burns, since 2022. That is until June 18 when she went on leave, according to Jen Lebron, a San Diego Community Power spokesperson.
That day, the board held a special meeting to discuss the CEO’s performance evaluation in closed session. But the board didn’t take any action, according to board documents. The board went into closed session on Thursday to discuss the CEO’s appointment as well, but didn’t take any action then either.
Burns, a New Jersey native, came to San Diego Community Power from the private sector working for a clean energy solutions company based in the Bay Area. She had also worked for a company attempting to build a 100 percent clean energy city in Abu Dhabi.
Late Friday, Community Power issued a written statement with this quote from Terra Lawson-Remer, the chair of the county Board of Supervisors and the board of Community Power: “Under Karin’s leadership, the organization is well positioned to continue delivering clean and affordable energy to communities across our region. The entire leadership team has been instrumental in building that strong foundation, and Jack’s leadership at this moment will ensure continued focus on our mission.”
The agency’s CEO position has had a troubled history since San Diego Community Power was born. Cody Hooven, former director of sustainability at the city of San Diego, formed the power-buying organization but was prevented from taking over as its first CEO for that very reason. There have been other changes in the agency’s upper ranks recently. In January, its chief financial officer, Eric Washington, resigned. Jannies Burlingame, a former advisor at the Carlsbad electric car company Aptera Motors, now holds that position and is the agency’s treasurer.
San Diego Community Power is a government-run renewable power-buying agency started in 2020 managing an over $1 billion power portfolio. People who live in the cities of San Diego, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Encinitas, Chula Vista and National City buy their power through that agency (instead of investor-owned San Diego Gas and Electric) to support clean energy projects and help those cities meet climate goals.
Maybe the performance evaluation had something to do with the outrageous salaries Community Power is paying its 150 employees. Community Power is only an aggerating organization – it does not Generate or Deliver power. SEE: https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2024/san-diego-community-power/
The reporting is as murky as what happened.