The City of Santa Cruz announced Friday that it will begin recruitment for a new Water Director, and will host a public meeting on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Police Department Community Room to receive community input regarding the upcoming recruitment.

The Water Director position, previously held by Bill Kocher, who retired in August after serving in the role for 28 years, directly oversees water supply and distribution systems for the City of Santa Cruz, with 98 employees and a $26M annual budget. The Water Department’s chief responsibility is to provide safe and reliable water to its 93,000 customers.

The City is seeking community input to understand what sort of experience, skills and qualities are preferred in a top candidate and what important issues they would like the Water Director to focus on. Information received during the public meeting will help inform the process and evaluation of candidates. Spanish translation services will be available at the meeting.

The public may also provide input via Survey Monkey by visiting the following web page: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WBCVJNJ.