The San Benito County Board of Supervisors began interviewing
candidates Tuesday for the job of county counsel, the county’s top
legal position, while the deadline to apply for the vacant County
Administrative Officer position also closed.
County Counsel Karen Forcum will leave the position on April 8,
after supervisors decided to let her go last week. Now the counsel
must rush to find an interim county counsel before their April 12
meeting
– their first without Forcum.
Hollister – The San Benito County Board of Supervisors began interviewing candidates Tuesday for the job of county counsel, the county’s top legal position, while the deadline to apply for the vacant County Administrative Officer position also closed.
County Counsel Karen Forcum will leave the position on April 8, after supervisors decided to let her go last week. Now the counsel must rush to find an interim county counsel before their April 12 meeting – their first without Forcum.
Supervisors have refused to discuss why Forcum was fired.
The supervisors met for a special closed-session meeting Tuesday morning to discuss their options for the county counsel job and interview several candidates. The county has also been working with the California State Association of Counties since last November to recruit for a new permanent CAO to replace Terrence May who suddenly quit in June. Since then, the county has had three interim CAOs filling in including Finance Director Dan Vrtis, former CAO Gil Solorio and, most recently, former county Management Analyst Susan Lyons working at the acting CAO.
But the board hasn’t had as much time or as many resources in its hunt for a new county counsel: The supervisors voted just last week to rescind the six-month employment extension they offered Forcum in February. Instead, Forcum’s tenure as the county’s top attorney will end on Friday of next week.
“We’re in the process of finding an interim county counsel,” Board Chairman Reb Monaco said Tuesday during the supervisors’ lunch break.
During the meeting, which went from 9:30 Tuesday morning until almost 4 that afternoon, the supervisors conducted interviews with several candidates for the job, according to Supervisor Anthony Botelho. The candidates were found through a CSAC search that began after the supervisors decided to let Forcum go, Acting CAO Lyons said, and interviewed applicants were selected by a board subcommittee. While Forcum will remain on staff for the supervisors’ meeting next week, they’ll need at least a temporary replacement by their April 12 session.
“Right now we’re just looking for an interim,” said Acting CAO Lyons. After a temporary replacement is found, the supervisors will begin the search for a permanent county counsel immediately, she added.
Until then, staff has been directed to “negotiate with a person or a firm regarding county counsel” and will report back to the board at its April 5 meeting, according to the closed-session report.
“We’ll have to come back whatever the figures are. Then we’ll have a full recruitment similar to the CAO search,” Lyons said.
CSAC stopped accepting applications for the CAO position yesterday, according to county Human Resources Analyst Jackie Credico. The organization has received around 20 applications, about five of which look promising, Botelho said.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at
jq*****@fr***********.com
.
