Another BWL firing

THURSDAY, JAN. 15 — One day after Board of Water & Light General Manager Peter Lark was terminated, the second highest executive, Susan Devon, was let go.

Devon was the chief administrative officer.

“Her employment was ended at 5 p.m. (Wednesday),” said Dick Peffley, interim general manager.

Peffley would not give a reason.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss personnel issues,” he said.

Would others from the Lark administration be let go?

“I’m hoping not,” he said.

He said he will meet with the staff this afternoon to “see how we can divvy up the job responsibilities.”

Lark was terminated Tuesday “for cause” by a 5-3 vote of the board of commissioners, six months after he was reappointed to his five-year contract and a positive performance evaluation.

In December 2013 an ice storm caused outages of more than 40,000 customers over the Christmas holiday season. Many called for Lark’s ouster, criticizing him leaving for New York City on Dec. 22 at the height of the crisis; for deleting internal emails that documented his communications about the restoration process; and for the utility’s overall lack of communication with the public and perceived lack of empathy.