City Names New Utilities Director

Keith Van Der Maaten, a civil engineer with experience working in two large Northern California cities, will head San Juan Capistrano's starting Sept. 26.

made the hiring announcement Friday afternoon, saying "Keith has the technical, managerial and financial leadership and experience that we need to deal with our water issues and aging infrastructure."

Van Der Maaten has worked for the city of Santa Cruz since 2006 and the San Jose-based California Water Service Company (Cal Water) in several roles for a decade. Cal Water is the largest investor-owned American water utility west of the Mississippi River and the third largest in the country, a city press release states.

San Juan Capistrano's utilities director oversees the operation and development of the city's sewer, water production and distribution systems, water treatment plant and more.

The seat was most recently filled by Upon leaving the posts, Tait retained a contract to do consulting work for the utilities department through March 31, 2012.

As of the time this article was published, city officials were did not return messages as to whether that contract would be teriminated once Van Der Maaten comes aboard.

Van Der Maaten's salary will be $132,456, plus benefits. Like Brust, who was started June 30,

According to the city press release, he has a bachelor's in civil engineering from San Jose State University and a master's in business administration with a concentration in "leading people in organization" and "managing innovation and technology" from Santa Clara University. He has been a registered civil engineer in the state since 2000.

In his role with Santa Cruz, a city of nearly 60,000, he managed a staff of 36 in the fleet, facilities, street and traffic maintenance divisions and was responsible for an operations budget of $7 million, the city press release states.

As engineering manager for Cal Water, Van Der Maaten managed 29 employees responsible for maintaining the assets for a large water utility, and he assisted with the development of the annual $13 million maintenance budget for 26 operating water districts, according to the press release.

He is married with a son and another child on the way.