Cashmere utilities director Dorien McElroy leaving Cashmere for San Diego

CASHMERE — Cashmere’s utilities director, Dorien McElroy, announced at the Jan. 26 City Council meeting that she will be leaving her position to take a new job with the City of San Diego, a move she said is driven both by family needs and a new professional opportunity.

“So the city officials already have been informed of this, but not everybody on the council has heard this, that I am leaving Woodard & Curran,” McElroy told the council. “I have been offered a position with the city of San Diego, with the public utility department.”

McElroy said the decision was prompted largely by her father’s declining health.

“My father has moved to an assisted living facility in San Diego, and his health is sort of going downhill,” she said. “I didn't want to be in a position where I'm not spending more time with him while I could.”

She described the decision as “bittersweet,” noting that she has spent the last three years overseeing Cashmere’s water and wastewater systems.

“While I've been here three years, I have been entrusted by you and by the people of the city to run the water and wastewater facilities along with my staff, for which I've been very grateful,” McElroy said. “Like I said, I've learned a lot.”

McElroy said she and the city are already working on a transition plan. Her position has been posted internally through Woodard & Curran, and she said a potential interim successor is already engaged.

“I am having a gentleman listen in that is with the company as well, and he's got a strong mechanic background,” she said. “His name's Adam, and he's on the call. He's listening in tonight from his house in Ephrata. I'm working with staff to sort of make succession plans and things like that.”

McElroy said she expects to remain in Cashmere through the remainder of the week and most of the following week.

“It was not a decision I made lightly,” she said. “But it is, I think, a good one for my family.”

She also reflected on her time working with the city and encouraged councilmembers to remain closely involved in utility oversight.

“I know when I first started here, Chris, John, a couple of you guys came to the treatment plant because you were interested to learn more,” she said. “And I think that has really kind of helped give a new context to see that even though it's a very simple process overall, there's a lot of sophisticated equipment, instrumentation, computers, and all that stuff.”

She said that understanding those systems is critical to maintaining reliable service.

“The more that you know about that, the more you understand the needs,” McElroy said, “and the needs that then help fulfill the community's desire to, of course, keep on producing a clean and reliable source of drinking water as well as taking care of your infrastructure needs.”

Mayor Jim Fletcher thanked McElroy for her work and said her tenure marked a turning point for the city’s utilities.

“On behalf of the council, I’d like to thank you for three years of really bringing this system of utilities up to a new standard of where we’re getting things repaired properly and not doing as many emergency repairs,” Fletcher said. “Things are functioning, and that’s quite a chore to create this.

“And with the new people we’ve had to train, I don’t think the public really understands how much work goes into making clean water,” he added. “So thank you very much for your time in bringing this up to a new standard of water and reliability.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media