DWR in transition

Bill Croyle, the acting director of California’s Department of Water Resources who gained prominence during the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, retired effective July 1.

Croyle (pictured) originally planned to retire in January but stayed at DWR as acting director at the request of Gov. Jerry Brown. He’d previously served as the department’s deputy director for statewide emergency preparedness and security; as the news release announcing his retirement says, that job “prepared him to manage the Lake Oroville spillways incident in February.”

DWR Chief Deputy Director Cindy Messer was promoted to acting director pending appointment of a new director.