Opinion
BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor
The five-member Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has made a mistake by selecting a new county CEO behind closed doors and without a public promise, and should do it over again in the light of day.
On Oct. 27, the county government announced in a press release that CEO Jeff Smith, who has held that position since 2009, would retire on July 1, 2023 — seven months from now. No announcement was made about the process the board of supervisors would use to pick his replacement.
Then, on Nov. 1, the county put out a second news release saying the county’s chief attorney, James Williams, had been selected by the board of supervisors to replace Smith.
The supervisors — which include Joe Simitian of Palo Alto — apparently voted to replace Smith with Williams in a closed session on Oct. 17, before Smith’s retirement was publicly announced.
The board voted 4-1 on Nov. 1 to confirm its earlier closed-door decision. The dissenting vote was that of Cindy Chavez, who is the favorite to win the race for San Jose mayor tomorrow.
At the Nov. 1 hearing, Chavez was concerned that the public wasn’t involved in the hiring process.
“This is really one of the most important actions that we will take as a board and we are missing an opportunity to continue to engage the community,” Chavez said.
Santa Clara County’s CEO manages 23,000 employees and administers an $11.5 billion budget.
Maybe Williams is the best choice for this job? Don’t read this as a criticism of Williams in any way.
But what would be the harm in advertising the opening nationwide and seeing if there are other capable candidates who want a job that pays $460,000 including benefits?
“If the county is committed to hiring only the best and the brightest, then you have to seek the best and the brightest,” longtime county Assessor Stone told the San Jose news site Spotlight. “You have to try to find them. This is entirely unorthodox and not consistent with the history of the county.”
Why would the county keep this process secret? One theory is that many people are still angry that they lost their businesses, and children lost a year in school, because of the county’s extreme response to the pandemic. Other counties had less draconian restrictions but had fewer deaths per capita. The U.S. Supreme Court had to reprimand the county twice for closing churches. Simply put, the county blew it.
If the CEO hiring process had been done openly, the supervisors would have heard from people over the county’s handling of the pandemic — and maybe the supervisors didn’t want to face them?
Another theory is that the board wanted to get the hiring done now before two of the five seats open up, with Chavez probably becoming San Jose mayor and Mike Wasserman leaving due to term limits.
And what about Joe Simitian, the North County’s supervisor? He’s always set the standard for open government and fairness. This is disappointing and surprising given his record. A Post reporter attempted to reach him on Friday, but didn’t hear back.
Simitian should convince his colleagues on the board to put the hiring of Williams on hold and conduct a public process for filling this important position. There’s plenty of time before Smith leaves to get this right.
Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays. His email address is [email protected].
This has got to be a violation of the Brown Act! They hire Williams on October 17 but don’t get around to announcing their decision for another two weeks?
Williams is/was the Head County Counsel for goodness sake. He not only knows the Brown Act, but it was his personal responsibility as County Counsel to ensure that the Board follow it. Even if there was some ambiguity about whether Williams could be appointed in secret without violating the Brown Act, the real question is why Williams would allow it. Why not err on the side of transparency about such an important decision?