The San Benito County Board of Supervisors offered the county’s
top job to former County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio, who
resigned from the position in January after three years at the
county’s helm.
Hollister – The San Benito County Board of Supervisors offered the county’s top job to former County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio, who resigned from the position in January after three years at the county’s helm.
Solorio is expected to decide whether he’ll take the job within the next few weeks, said county attorney Karen Forcum after the board’s closed session meeting on the topic on Friday.
Solorio could not be reached for comment.
The board’s offer to Solorio came four days after the official resignation of CAO Dan Vrtis, who accepted his prior role as the county’s finance director when the board asked him to resign a week earlier. Vrtis was the third CAO to resign from the position in eight months.
Vrtis said he doesn’t have a feeling one way or the other about the board’s asking Solorio to reclaim his position.
“That’s the board’s decision,” he said. “Gil was a great CAO. I have total respect for the man.”
The board appointed Vrtis to the post after CAO Terrence May abruptly resigned following an argument with Supervisor Bob Cruz on June 3.
Supervisors would not comment on why they asked Vrtis to resign or why they asked Solorio to take over.
But Supervisor Reb Monaco, who was on a subcommittee with Supervisor Pat Loe to choose an interim director, said the vote to ask Vrtis to resign was not unanimous. He also said Solorio was a qualified candidate for the interim position.
“We contacted him and he said he’d be interested,” Monaco said. “He brings a lot to the table – experience, familiarity.”
Former Supervisor Ron Rodrigues, who sat on the board from 1994 to 2002, worked with Solorio during his tenure as CAO and said he would do a great job until the board fills the position full-time.
“If they can get him back it would be a real plus,” Rodrigues said. “I hope he accepts it on an interim basis. They need somebody to keep the county running.”
The board announced this week that a full-time CAO will not be chosen until the new board comes on in January. Three new supervisors will replace Cruz, Ruth Kesler and Richard Scagliotti.
Rodrigues said the speedy turnover of the CAO’s position has been “kind of ridiculous, to put it mildly.”
The instability in the position is a detriment for the county because officials can’t serve the citizens when the office is in such turmoil, Rodrigues said.
While Loe said she doesn’t have “any idea” if the turn over creates instability within the county’s administration, Monaco said it certainly affects it.
“It has heightened anxieties,” he said.
Kesler, on the other hand, believes the office is running smoothly despite the upheaval.
“I’ve been there on and off for 16 years and there were times when we didn’t have a CAO for a couple months, but we worked out just beautifully,” she said. “There are always enough people who have been there for awhile that can fill in.”
Both Loe and Monaco didn’t know if the board will start looking for a full-time CAO before the new supervisors come on board or not.
“It will all be handled through the standard process and we haven’t gone into the process,” Loe said. “First we need an interim on board and we’ll go from there.”
Monaco said he hasn’t thought about whether the turnover will be a detriment in hiring a qualified candidate because someone may be leery of taking a position that has been plagued with inconsistencies.
Loe would not comment on the matter.
Kesler said she didn’t think the turnover would be an issue when it comes time to fill the position.
“It wouldn’t bother me if I was gonna go for CAO,” she said.
