San Benito County will allocate $30,000 to search for a
permanent County Administrative Officer, but it will be the new
board taking over in January that will hire the position, the Board
of Supervisors decided this week.
Hollister – San Benito County will allocate $30,000 to search for a permanent County Administrative Officer, but it will be the new board taking over in January that will hire the position, the Board of Supervisors decided this week.
The hunt for a permanent CAO to replace interim CAO Gil Solorio will probably start within the next few weeks, according to Supervisor Reb Monaco. The board voted Tuesday to conduct an external recruitment, meaning it will actively look for and accept applications from individuals not currently working for San Benito County.
The county has gone through three CAOs in the last year, and the members of the board who will be seated in January are glad to have the chance to hire a new leader. The three supervisor-elects who will take office in January were in the audience at Tuesday’s board meeting, and were asked to comment. Dist. 1 supervisor-elect Don Marcus, Dist. 2 supervisor-elect Anthony Botelho, and Dist. 5 supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz all agreed with the board’s decision.
“I’d like to conduct an external recruitment, but of course I’d like the option to keep Gil (Solorio) on permanently,” said Marcus.
The Solorio made no reply to Marcus’ comment.
The cost of an external recruitment can be higher than that of an internal recruitment, in which the board would look for potential CAO’s only among current county employees, said Solorio. However, the board voted unanimously to broaden the application pool with an external recruitment and to set aside $30,000 for the search after Solorio illustrated the several options the board had. Other options included eliminating the CAO position and appointing a permanent CAO without recruitment.
The $30,000 is earmarked specifically to pay for outside consulting services the board may choose to enlist during the search. Services can range from a “full-menu,” with which the consulting firm would essentially “hold your hand from beginning to end” of the process, said Solorio, to a “half-menu,” in which the firm just helps the board recruit. Half-menu services would cost about $15,000-$16,000, Solorio estimated.
While Monaco and Supervisor Pat Loe said they would like to enlist half-menu services, the board still voted unanimously to set aside $30,000, the price of a full-menu service, just in case.
The ultimate decision of who will be the next CAO will be up to members of the new Board of Supervisors seated in January. Solorio estimated the search could last from two to four months.
Solorio resigned from his post as permanent CAO in January, and was replaced by Terry May. May left the job abruptly in June after a dispute with one of the supervisors. The county then hired Dan Vrtis, but asked for Vrtis’ resignation less than three months later, and Solorio signed back on as interim CAO. Since then, he has been working as CAO on a month-to-month basis.
Jessica Quandt is a staff writer for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
