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Victor Maccharoli- County CEO Mike Brown.

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CEO loses power to hire, fire department heads

By COLBY FRAZIER — March 4, 2009

With a charged political split, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors yesterday reassumed the power to hire and fire department heads — a responsibility that for the last four years has sat with the county CEO.

Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr, who with 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf led the effort to amend a chapter of the county code that outlines the CEO’s responsibilities, said giving the board the final say when it comes to personnel matters involving top county employees will bolster accountability and transparency in county government.

“It makes sure the board’s authority is commensurate with its responsibility,” she said.

While Farr, Wolf, 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal and several public speakers said they feel the action will be an improvement over the current system; opponents said docking the CEO’s power would be taking a step in the wrong direction.

Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray, an 11-year veteran on the board, said the current system, in which CEO Mike Brown has the ultimate authority to hire and fire, is “the best and most effective [system] we’ve ever had.”

“I’m tremendously happy with the organizational structure we’re experiencing today,” she said, adding that she felt cutting the CEO’s power could thrust county government into a “spaghetti organizational chart,” whereby department heads could lobby their causes with board members at will.

The board’s 3-2 vote yesterday amended a chapter of the county code that dictates the CEO’s “powers and duties.” A second reading of the change is scheduled for March 17, and the hiring of a planning and development director has been delayed until the new language is official.

The main thrust of the amendment deals with a section in the code that was last tinkered with in March of 2005. Since that time, according to the code, Brown has had, “… full authority of the board to select, appoint, evaluate, suspend, terminate and retain …” non-elected department directors, with the exception of legal counsel. Prior to 2005, the board had always retained this duty.

And now they’re getting it back.

Under the new language, Brown will have to share his annual performance evaluations with the board. When he feels a person should be fired or hired, the code states: “The Board of Supervisors shall approve the appointment or removal of an appointed department director.”

The board first discussed amending Brown’s job description two weeks ago. It became clear at that meeting that Farr and Wolf had Carbajal’s support, solidifying the three votes needed for the change.

But at that meeting, 5th District Supervisor and Board Chair Joe Centeno requested more time to mull over the changes before a vote.

Over the last two weeks, Centeno appeared to have formed a strong opinion on the matter.

While Wolf said restoring hiring and firing power to the board would enhance accountability, Centeno said at no time over the last four years, or any time during his decades of public service, has he ever felt unaccountable to the people who elected him.

“We have oversight over every single thing that happens,” he said. “I think they believe the system they’re going to go to is better than the one we have. I just don’t believe that.”

Of much concern to Centeno and other critics of the change is an addition to the county code that says, “Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as restricting the ability of county officers or appointed department directors from directly contacting members of the Board of Supervisors.”

Over the past four years, correspondence from department heads has been piped through Brown.

Prior to this system, Gray said at the February hearing that various department heads were known to “walk the halls,” bouncing from supervisor to supervisor, lobbying support for their causes.

Though Farr and Wolf insist opening up lines of communication will improve the democratic structure of county government, Andy Caldwell, executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture & Business, said it will do the opposite.

On the other hand, when all roads to the Board of Supervisors lead through Brown, Caldwell said it ensures decisions aren’t being made behind closed doors.

Caldwell and Joe Armendariz, a Carpinteria city councilmember who is also the executive director of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, said they’ve yet to meet a high-powered CEO in the private sector who supports the new power structure.

Armendariz said it will “hyper-politicize” decision making, and so far as he can tell, no one in the business world believes placing the authority of the CEO in a board of directors’ hands is a wise decision.

“That’s exactly what you’re doing,” he said.

But Wolf reminded Armendariz and Caldwell that, while the county does resemble the private sector in some of its inner workings, it is far from a regular business.

“We are not a private entity,” she said. “We are a government agency [that is] responsible to the citizens.”

Wolf said the notion that department heads would lobby her or any other supervisor for support behind closed doors is “silly.”

Farr, whose presence so far on the board has been in stark contrast to the reign of Brooks Firestone, the man she succeeded, said the kind of political frenzy opponents to the amendment are forecasting won’t come true.

“Nobody wants any kind of organizational chaos,” she said. “That is not what this will bring.”

Carbajal acknowledged that opening the lines of communication between department heads could create issues, saying, “Some department heads could overstep their bounds to create a county of three.”

In order to ensure this doesn’t take place, Carbajal asked staff return in a year with a review of how, if at all, the amendment has changed the way the county does business.

But whether department heads have to go through Brown or not before speaking with a supervisor, Centeno issued a blunt warning, telling any department head that might be in the room or watching the meeting on television not to knock on his door unless Brown knows about it.

“You better not come to me with any issue unless you first discuss it with the CEO,” he said, “because I’m not going to listen.”

On the other hand, Wolf, addressing department heads or anyone else listening, said her door is always open.

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Other Privaledges? : 3/4/2009

Where I was from the 'county commissioners' had some other special perks that they seemingly wanted to extend to select others; others at meetings for different purposes. Or somehow just to pretend that specific others were also 'county commissioners', so they could pretend that those others were a part of those 'perks', for some reason.

Tharon Chandler

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Brown should go : 3/4/2009

If Mike Brown had the slightest bit of pride, he would take this act as a repudiation of his leadership and resign out of principal. But Brown will not, since the little guy cares more about padding his retirement and will hang in to the bitter end. His tenure in the "CEO" position proves that neither brains nor leadership are required in Santa Barbara. His record of insensitive comments about women and religious minorities, along with his idiotic proposal to concentrate the county's growth in Cuyama, have been costly to the county in more ways than one. His saving grace has been having a Board of Sups less, um, 'attentive' than he... His primary legacy will be appreciated by his successor: he's set the bar so low that even a much shorter person could walk under it on tippy-toe.

Brown out

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