Will an El Pasoan Take Top Spot at Troubled Agency?

The troubled federal agency in charge of the Rio Grande might have a new commissioner soon, according to  El Paso’s Newspaper Tree.

The current commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission C.W. “Bill” Ruth has been on “personal leave” since the Inspector General showed up last week to investigate some serious allegations made by the agency’s former general counsel Robert McCarthy.

Reportedly there are a few names in the ring for a possible replacement. El Pasoan Ed Drusina is  working the phone lines hard and collecting letters of recommendation to win the presidential appointment, according to Newspaper Tree.

Here is a little on Drusina’s background from David Crowder’s article in the NPT:

Drusina, 57, is a graduate of Burges High School and holds an engineering degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Until recently, he was president of OMNI Construction Services LLC, a subsidiary of the El Paso engineering and construction firm, Moreno Cardenas Inc. While with Moreno Cardenas, the company reported, Drusina was construction manager for over $28 million of infrastructure construction associated with El Paso Water Utilities’ desalination plant.

He is now the El Paso area director for Paragon Project Resources Inc., a national engineering firm with offices in El Paso.”

Anyone who wants this position should be commended,  (or possibly have his or her sanity checked )because it’s going to be a pain in the Elephant Butte to clean up the mess. If McCarthy’s allegations are true about the IBWC the new commisioner will need a large mop and some intestinal fortitude to get the job done.