The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors had a full slate of business for its Dec. 8 meeting, the final scheduled meeting of the year.
The board approved the early retirement of the county’s chief executive officer, Michael Brown, who had served in the administrative position for 13 years.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my career,” Brown said. “I’ve met great people, many
of whom have become lifelong friends. It’s a wonderful privilege to have been able to do this.”
To facilitate the retirement, the county reworked Brown’s contract, originally set to expire in May of 2011. Brown will stay in his current role until Oct. 31, 2010, to help implement the county’s 2010-11 budget, scheduled for adoption in June. He’ll also help the board recruit his successor.
According to a press release from the county, the supervisors wanted to keep Brown as CEO as long as they could to help the county through the upcoming 2010-11 budget cycle, which is expected to be “one of the most daunting challenges ever faced in the county’s history.”
“He has such a fine-tuned understanding of budgeting and finance,” 3rd District Supervisor Joni Gray explained in an interview prior to the meeting. “It’s kind of like asking the captain of the ship to leave right during a battle.”
Gray went on to say that Santa Barbara County isn’t the only one in need of a new CEO.
“It’s an interesting time in county government because currently six counties are looking for a new CEO or CAO (County Administrative Officer), and 31 out of California’s 56 counties have administrators that have been there less than one and a half years,” she said, adding that having so many new people at the helm can make weathering the recession more difficult.
Brown noted that he’s looking forward to retirement.
“I’m very gratified that the board would want me to stay on and help with the budget,” he said.
By stepping down now, Brown will have two years of additional service credited toward his pension, thanks to a countywide early-retirement incentive program.
With 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray absent, the board also heard public recommendations regarding a county ordinance that would restrict or ban the opening of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.
Diane Norman, owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Summerland, spoke on behalf of her patients.
“I have success story after success story of people with insidious diseases who have benefited so greatly, and the only people who will be hurt by putting a moratorium or closing down these collectives are elderly people who are not in contact with young people or drug pushers,” Norman said. “To absolutely forbid them to be in existence for the benefit of these very people who really have no other alternative isn’t compassionate and is not in the spirit of the law or what the citizens of California have voted in.”
As of press time, the board hadn’t yet voted on whether to move forward with the ordinance.
The board also took up county personnel matters. Supervisor Joe Centeno announced the appointment of Dr. Takashi Michael Wada as county medical officer and the new director of the County Public Health Department.
Wada is currently director of the city of Pasadena’s Public Health Department, as well as that city’s public health officer. He’ll begin his new job in March 2010.
This article appears in Dec 10-17, 2009.