After a tumultuous process to hire the county’s top bureaucrat ended with a unanimous appointment this summer, the county needs to fill about 10 other top leadership posts.
Interim leaders are now overseeing each of the county’s four major branches, including the Health and Human Services Agency and public safety group. Another top county official was also demoted after the county’s new leader took the helm. The county is also looking to hire a public health officer, chief medical officer, public works director and an immigrant and refugee affairs office director.
The openings represent a turning point for a county government long led by a Republican board majority that’s shifted to a Democratic majority.
New Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton has a chance to hire key leaders to execute her vision for county government. She is also eyeing a reorganization of the nearly 19,000-employee operation. Shelton’s choices will drive whether county government will meet Democratic supervisors’ and activists’ long-term wishes for a more progressive, labor-friendly county government on the front lines of addressing the region’s foremost challenges.
For now, the openings leave the county with temporary leaders less equipped to advance major new initiatives – plus a dose of uncertainty.
Many of the openings aren’t new. Some followed long-planned retirements, including three high-profile ones. A few have come up since Shelton took over.
County spokesperson Michael Workman said the wave of departures shouldn’t be viewed as alarming, in part because many positions had been left open to allow the incoming CAO to build her own team. National searches for replacements are now under way.
“When a new CAO comes in, change happens,” Workman wrote. “The folks who are serving in interim roles are experienced county executives and business is being conducted without missing a beat.”
(Worth noting: Workman, the county’s longtime communications director, is preparing to depart county government himself later this year. He retired in March, but supervisors voted that month to rehire Workman until a replacement is onboarded or for up to 960 hours, a cap that Workman estimates he’ll hit in mid-November.)
In a statement, County Board Chair Nora Vargas said the county is “committed to filling open positions through a fair and thorough process to ensure we hire the best candidates.”
“Above all, we are focused on bringing in public servants who will effectively serve the needs of our constituents throughout the region and uphold the values of our community,” Vargas wrote.
Workman said Shelton plans to fill deputy CAO positions by early October and expects to pursue a multi-year county reorganization to increase efficiency, better align programs and services to “serve community needs” and attract and retain a talented workforce.
Shelton’s vision for county government, Workman wrote, is a “a team that represents and champions our values of equity and belonging, that creates a culture of acceptance and environment of trust to empower team members to make decisions to improve lives and enhance economic prosperity for all San Diegans.”
He said Shelton’s top policy priorities include preventing homelessness, the county’s climate action and housing blueprint plans, behavioral health improvements and boosting alternatives to incarceration.
There’s already been one major change since Shelton took the helm.
Former county Registrar of Voters Michael Vu, who former top county bureaucrat Helen Robbins-Meyer made her assistant CAO, last month became a deputy CAO solely overseeing the elections office he once led. Vu, who at one point was considered a prime candidate for the county’s top unelected post, took an $85,000 annual pay cut.
Other deputy CAO roles each have at least seven departments reporting to them – and the registrar of voters previously reported to the bureaucrat who managed other functions including the county auditor and controller, communications office and human resources.
When Voice of San Diego inquired about the narrow scope of Vu’s new role, Workman wrote that the county previously had a single deputy CAO position “filled by folks focused on a single or narrow task” or special assignments. Workman said the position has been “dormant” the past few years following a county reorganization.
Workman declined to comment on the reasoning behind Vu’s job change or to elaborate on other details.
Shelton appears to have decided against having Vu, a beloved local official during his time as registrar, serve as her No. 2 and to have reassigned him to oversee elections to provide a softer landing in what’s likely a transitional role.
The scope of Vu’s current and former roles is among the items that could come up in the upcoming reorganization effort.
Longtime county bureaucrat Sarah Aghassi, who left county government effective July 6 after serving as interim CAO, formally called for changes in a memo to county supervisors earlier this summer. She suggested an in-depth review of county government and “potential reorganizational options.”
“For the past five years, I have continuously advocated for an assessment of our county organizational structure to determine whether we have outgrown the existing structure,” Aghassi wrote. “It is evidence that a culture shift is needed throughout the organization that will allow for innovative thinking to address the organization’s structural needs.”
Among Aghassi’s more specific recommendations: develop a “more robust financial planning team” to analyze past trends and prepare for potentially tougher fiscal times, explore whether the deputy CAO management structure remains effective, review county policies to ensure they “align with our goals of equity and efficiency” and map out bottlenecks in departments such as purchasing and contracting to “evaluate areas ripe for improvement.”
Workman said that Shelton expects to implement all of Aghassi’s recommendations and is preparing strategies to proceed.
Board Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Crystal Irving, who leads the county’s largest labor union, wrote in separate statements that they see the leadership change and the wave of open positions as an opportunity to reshape the county too.
“The county has a golden opportunity to build a transformational vision that will end the culture of neglect towards its workforce and the critical services the community depends on,” wrote Crystal Irving, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 221. “We are optimistic that our new CAO will assemble a leadership team with the values and skills needed to create a county that truly works for all San Diegans.”
Lawson-Remer wrote in a statement that she wants new county leadership to prioritize community-focused and data-driven work.
“This board has been steering the county in a new direction for the last four years, and I want leaders who can accelerate that work. I want change-oriented leaders to be selected,” Lawson-Remer wrote. “I want them to be empowered to be innovative, experienced enough to take calculated risks, and willing to listen to the voices of their workforce to accomplish our mission of serving the residents of this county.”
