After four years with San Benito County, Finance Director Dan
Vrtis announced last week that he is moving on at the end of this
month to a job in Kings County.
Hollister – After four years with San Benito County, Finance Director Dan Vrtis announced last week that he is moving on at the end of this month to a job in Kings County.
Vrtis made his announcement during last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, saying he would leave San Benito for the finance director job in Kings County effective Jan.13. Board members showed noticeable disappointment when they heard the news.
“I’m really sad to see you go,” Supervisor Anthony Botelho said. “You’ve been a friend, and I’ve never lost any sleep worrying about the finances of San Benito County.”
Vrtis said he was taking the new job because the Kings County financial director position is comprised of auditor- controller and treasurer- tax collector, which are currently separate elected positions in San Benito.
“I believe that is the future in California government,” he said Thursday.
Vrtis said that local governments have a better chance to get a person who is qualified for the positions if they are appointed rather than elected.
In 2001, Vrtis started work as the county’s finance director. Three years later, the former Board of Supervisors voted to promote Vrtis to county administrative officer after the former CAO, Terrence May, abruptly left the post in June, 2004 and never returned.
Vrtis came into the CAO job during a particularly challenging time when the county was in the midst of preparing its 2004-05 budget. He went on to lead the effort to balance the budget while maintaining most services and avoiding significant layoffs.
Yet just three months after Vrtis took the county’s top spot, the same board that appointed him asked him to resign as CAO in September, 2004 for reasons not disclosed because it was a personnel issue. However, the board offered him the finance director position again, which he accepted.
Before taking the finance director position in 2001, Vrtis held similar posts in San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. He also spent 31 years serving as a hospital administrator in the Air National Guard Reserve.
Clerk-Auditor-Recorder John Hodges, who runs the auditor’s office where Vrtis worked, said he is sorry to see Vrtis go.
“Dan was a real asset to the office,” he said. “The office was needing his expertise four years ago and he’s been training staff in the latest techniques of governmental accounting.”
Hodges said he plans to ask the Board of Supervisors to appoint Joe Paul Gonzales, currently the accounting office supervisor, as Vrtis’ successor.
“John Paul will do very well in that capacity,” he said. “He’s well educated, has drive and likes to see performance.”
