Council moves toward confirming Carrasco

A majority of Seattle City Council members indicated yesterday they would likely vote to confirm Jorge Carrasco as City Light's new superintendent.

"That's where we're headed," said Council President Jan Drago, after the council held a 45-minute, closed-door session to discuss Carrasco's qualifications. "We have a pretty good idea of what we're getting, and we think this is the right guy at this time."

Barring a stunning revelation about his past, council members said they would vote next Monday for his confirmation, saying they were impressed by him and the direction he wants to take the utility.

"It looks positive," added Jean Godden, chair of the council's City Light oversight committee, noting that some council members are still collecting information on Carrasco. The council also wants to draw up a short list of goals and expectations to give Carrasco before voting to confirm him.

Council members also noted that key members of the Municipal League of King County, which produced a critical report on City Light in 2002, were also impressed by Carrasco.

With a proposed starting salary of $210,000, Carrasco would be the highest-paid city employee. He could add $10,000 to his salary at the end of 2005 if he met certain performance goals. At the end of four years on the job, he'd be eligible for an additional 10 percent raise if he met another set of goals.

Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said he wanted a little more time to check on Carrasco but felt the Texas native was headed for confirmation.

"He has stood up well, providing direct responses to probing questions," he said. "All indications are very encouraging. I just didn't feel ready to vote (yesterday)."

Councilman David Della, whose election campaign last year focused largely on criticizing City Light, said he was expecting Carrasco to be a "change agent" at City Light.

Councilman Richard McIver said he probably would vote for Carrasco's confirmation.

The council voted last year against reconfirming then-Superintendent Gary Zarker, complaining about a lack of communication by Zarker and senior managers at the city-owned utility. They also were displeased by the defensiveness of the utility's top managers and their lack of electric-utility experience.

Carrasco, 54, has a résumé long in managerial experience, but he has not headed a public electric utility since his tenure as city manager in Austin, Texas, in the 1980s.

He went on to jobs as city manager of Scottsdale, Ariz., and general manager of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, a 1.2 million-customer water utility serving the Oakland, Calif., area. Most recently, Carrasco was president of New Jersey-based American Water Services.

During a two-hour grilling of Carrasco last week, council members focused on two main areas: his lack of experience managing a public electric utility and his resignations in Austin and East Bay, both of which involved clashes with elected officials.

Carrasco seemed to appease the council on the first issue by saying he would "very likely" hire a chief operating officer for City Light who had technical expertise in electricity.

On the second concern, Carrasco explained that he left Austin and East Bay because the governing bodies in those jobs were changed by elections and he no longer saw eye-to-eye with his bosses.

"He got along very well with the councils he was hired by, not by ones elected subsequently," Godden said.

Reached at his home in New Jersey last night, Carrasco said he was "delighted" by the news from the Seattle City Council.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com