Leaders of the Orange County Power Authority appointed their chief communications officer Joe Mosca as interim CEO this week after they fired controversial CEO Brian Probolsky last month.
While Probolsky will remain as the head of the agency until the end of the month, Mosca will run the agency as they begin searching for a permanent leader, and a copy of his contract will be put up for approval at the board of directors’ May 17 meeting.
Mosca did not return requests for comment after it was announced he’d be stepping up to the CEO position.
“He’s going to be terrific,” said Fred Jung, Fullerton mayor and chair of the agency’s board, in an interview after the meeting. “I wish him great success, so should all members of the public.”
Jung also confirmed that Mosca would be allowed to apply for the permanent CEO position.
The Power Authority was started by the cities of Irvine, Fullerton, Buena Park and Huntington Beach with the goal of bringing more renewable power to residents and businesses at a cheaper cost than Southern California Edison.
But agency officials spent most of the last year responding to a series of scathing audits from a county grand jury, the county government and the state auditor.
All the audits from the various entities found significant transparency and contract management problems.
Those audits ultimately led to the county government pulling out of the agency, and set off a chain of discussions in the founding cities as to whether or not they’d leave as well.
[Read: Cloudy Contracts, Audits and Lost County Support: A Rough Year For OC’s Green Power Agency]
The agency’s new board of directors that took over at the start of this year have pledged big changes are coming, approving a revitalization plan and firing Probolsky after he was called out in the state auditor’s report for failing to properly disclose contracts to the board.
[Read: Orange County Power Authority Fires Controversial CEO After Two Years of Unrest]
Mosca joined the agency in December of last year right as the county was bailing out, and was the first staff member hired in the communication’s department.
Mosca’s also been the public face of the agency’s rebranding efforts, and in an interview with Voice of OC last week said the agency planned on expanding its marketing efforts to potential customers in the near future.
“We’re more focused on who we are and letting our customers know the benefits of being part of our agency,” Mosca said.
Before joining the agency, Mosca served as the chair of the board for San Diego Community Power, a similar program in San Diego County, while he was a city councilman in Encinitas.
He also previously worked for San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company, and is a former mayor of Sierra Madre.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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