Giuliani Ousts Commissioner, But Quietly

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has dismissed Marilyn G. Gelber, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, who has played a major role in New York City's efforts to negotiate ways to protect its upstate water supply, senior administration officials said yesterday.

The Mayor's office did not announce the decision publicly, as would typically be the case with the departure of a commissioner. But one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Giuliani planned to appoint Joel A. Miele, the Commissioner of Buildings, as Ms. Gelber's replacement next week.

Ms. Gelber's departure comes even as the long-running water negotiations, involving the city, the state and the representatives of the communities surrounding the city's watershed, have reached a particularly critical stage.

One environmentalist, Chris Meyer of the New York Public Interest Research Group, expressed concern that her absence could stall negotiations that have progressed in fits and starts since the three sides announced the outline of a settlement last November.

"Her leaving creates a void," he said.

The administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Mr. Giuliani had asked Ms. Gelber to step down because of his displeasure with her management of the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the city's water and sewer systems, as well as air quality and noise pollution. Another official said Ms. Gelber had clashed with the Mayor's office over the hiring of ranking aides in her department.

Ms. Gelber did not respond yesterday to telephone messages left at her office.

In two and a half years as commissioner, Ms. Gelber often moved into the public spotlight. She coordinated the city's responses to a spate of water-main breaks, and earlier this year had to defend the department's handling of extremely erroneous water bills.

Her most significant work, though, involved the watershed, the reservoirs that are the source of the city's drinking water. Ms. Gelber has received credit for forging a warmer relationship with environmentalists and residents in the upstate villages, who have long bristled at the city's legal powers to impose strict rules to prevent pollution in the watershed.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer for the Hudson Riverkeeper Fund, a private environmental group that has been involved in the negotiations over the watershed, said she had earned "grudging respect" from people not eager to trust the city.

"The watershed negotiations could not have taken place without her leadership," he said.