The Board of Supervisors appointed Dan Vrtis as San Benito
County’s top administrator Tuesday, five days after the abrupt
resignation of Terrence May.
After learning of the permanent appointment, Vrtis said he hopes
to balance the county’s budget and help restore the image of local
government.
The Board of Supervisors appointed Dan Vrtis as San Benito County’s top administrator Tuesday, five days after the abrupt resignation of Terrence May.
After learning of the permanent appointment, Vrtis said he hopes to balance the county’s budget and help restore the image of local government.
Supervisors voted unanimously in closed session to hire Vrtis, the county’s finance director for three years, after originally appointing him as the acting county administrative officer at a special meeting Friday.
May left Thursday morning and hasn’t returned since. He hasn’t returned phone calls placed to his home in Newman. And county officials won’t say what led to his departure.
Vrtis, 54, enters the role of CAO after nearly 32 years in county government. The board will decide on the length of his contract in the next few weeks, according to County Counsel Karen Forcum. His salary also will be determined. May earned $132,000 with the potential for $169,000.
Vrtis said supervisors indicated his finance director position will be frozen. And if the CAO role doesn’t work out, his former job would be available again.
He had been finance director for San Benito since 2001. Before that, he served in similar money-crunching roles in San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Two years ago, he retired after 31 years of military service in the Air National Guard Reserve, where he served as a hospital administrator, Vrtis said.
Aside from balancing the County’s $4 million budget shortfall, Vrtis said one of his primary goals is to help diminish the negative image of government throughout San Benito. A string of contentious issues have tarnished the county’s image since the board initially approved Measure G as the Growth Control Initiative in April 2003.
“We need to put our best face forward in many instances, and sometimes we don’t,” Vrtis said. “And I think that’s a challenge for all of us, to get out the word of the good things we do.”
Vrtis called the county workforce “a great group of employees.” And he hopes the three supervisors slated to depart next January are “recognized and appreciated” for their years of service, he said.
Supervisors expressed confidence in Vrtis on Tuesday, who lost out to May six months ago when the two applied for CAO after Gil Solorio’s retirement.
Supervisor Reb Monaco said he hopes Vrtis can act as “a calming influence” within the community.
“I support it 100 percent,” Monaco said. “He has been second in command. He certainly comes with a lot of skills.”
He added: “I have a lot of faith in this guy.”
Supervisor Ruth Kesler referenced Vrtis’ previous pursuit of the job, saying, “Now he’ll get his chance.”
“I think he’ll do a very, very good job,” she said.
Vrtis currently lives in Redwood City but plans to move here in the near future, he said. He also has an apartment in Arnold northwest of Yosemite National Park. It’s a place Vrtis called a “dream come true” because it allows him to kayak and, in the winter, snow shoe in the mountains.
Vrtis has three grown children, two sons and a daughter. And he earned a bachelor’s of science degree from San Diego State in science accounting.
Kollin Kosmicki can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 331 or at
