Ex-Florida Official to Head MWD : Water: The selection breaks a tradition of choosing from within the agency. Sources said the board was impressed by John R. Wodraska’s experience working with environmental, agricultural and urban groups.

A former Florida water official was appointed Tuesday as general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the most influential water posts in the nation.

In selecting John R. Wodraska, the MWD board of directors broke tradition by reaching outside the ranks of the California water industry. It is also the first time in the giant agency’s 65-year history that its general manager will have no previous MWD experience.

“I think there is a feeling of change here--that seems to be a popular concept throughout politics around the nation right now--and I think I offered some of that,” Wodraska said Tuesday.

Wodraska, who until 1991 headed the sprawling South Florida Water Management District, was one of seven finalists interviewed over the weekend by an MWD search committee. The nationwide search began in January when General Manager Carl Boronkay announced that he would resign in March.

Although MWD officials said a salary has not yet been agreed upon, it is expected to be in the same range as the $189,000 paid to Boronkay, placing Wodraska among the highest-paid public officials in Southern California.

Board sources said Wodraska emerged from the weekend interviews as the clear favorite, with Long Beach City Manager James C. Hankla finishing second. Only one MWD official, Assistant General Manager Duane Georgeson, was among the finalists, sources said.

“He clearly was the choice; there was no second-guessing,” MWD board chairman Michael Gage said.

Wodraska, 44, worked for the Florida water agency for 19 years, including seven as its executive director. For the past two years, he was at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton as director of the Environmental Initiative, a privately funded program to increase environmental awareness in South Florida.

MWD sources said the board was impressed with Wodraska’s water management experience and his history of working with environmental, agricultural and urban groups in South Florida. A similar troika of interests dominates water politics in California, and it was believed a street-smart outsider might help forge new coalitions, the sources said.

“There were many things from his background that gave us a lot of confidence that he could deal with the contentious issues in California,” said attorney Alf W. Brandt, who heads the city of Los Angeles delegation on the MWD board.

San Francisco author Marc Reisner, who has often written critically about the MWD, said Wodraska has survived intense water fights in South Florida, including an ongoing dispute over the Everglades, making him a logical choice for the MWD job.

“There has been kind of a water battle raging in South Florida that is of roughly equal intensity of the water battles we have experienced out here,” Reisner said.

Wodraska, who goes by the nickname Woody, came under criticism in Florida for not doing enough to control farm waste water from polluting the Everglades, which fall within the South Florida water agency’s 17,000-square-mile jurisdiction. In 1988, the federal government sued the agency over the problem, and the costly litigation remains unresolved.

Wodraska left his post in 1991 amid ongoing criticism of the agency from newly elected Gov. Lawton Chiles. Wodraska received mixed reviews upon his departure, but he was generally praised for steering the agency, which has an annual budget of $260 million, toward a more environmentally sensitive posture.

“He placed much greater focus on environmental restoration and protection,” said Cathy Anclade, spokeswoman for the South Florida agency, which serves 4 million people.

At Florida Atlantic University, Wodraska’s tenure as head of the school’s fledgling environmental program also stirred controversy. A group of faculty members complained that he was not a committed environmentalist and criticized his speed in implementing programs.

University Eminent Scholar Lester Embree, a professor of philosophy, said the Environmental Initiative became known derisively as the “Environmental Impediment.” “Your loss is our gain,” Embree said when told of Wodraska’s appointment.

Wodraska acknowledged Tuesday that he was unable to accomplish all of his goals at Florida Atlantic, but he complained that he was the victim of differing expectations about his job.

Also Tuesday, the MWD board approved a $6 to $15 annual charge on all land in the district’s six-county service area that benefits from water service. The charge, which will appear on tax rolls beginning this fall, is expected to raise $50 million.