Tribute to Administrative Officer . . . . . . He Quit After Spats With Board : Nestande Seeks to Rename Hall After Thomas

Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande proposed Thursday that the county Hall of Administration be named after County Administrative Officer Robert E. Thomas, who will retire later this year after a series of conflicts with the Board of Supervisors.

Plaque Mentioned “We are on the eve of the loss of a longtime public servant, who has guided this county through its dramatic, unprecedented years of growth, helping this board cope with increasing needs and responding to the desires of varied constituents as well as the mandates from the state and federal governments,” Nestande wrote in a letter to other board members. “Bob Thomas kept us on a realistic fiscal basis; he organized and supervised a responsive, aggressive and imaginative county government structure which stands as a model for modern county government throughout this country.”

The letter recommends that “the Hall of Administration be named and hereafter known as the Robert E. Thomas Hall of Administration, and that an appropriate plaque be placed in the lobby of the building designating this fact.”

Nestande told The Times on Thursday that he saw no problem with seeking to name a county building after Thomas but voting against raising his $78,500-a-year salary last summer, when Thomas was one of only two agency or department heads not to receive a pay raise. The board decision was widely interpreted as a sign of displeasure with his performance, and Thomas said in an interview with the Times two months later that the board’s action “doesn’t show much class.”

Thomas could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Nestande said that although he has “raised questions at times” about Thomas’ work performance, “to go ahead and take that as an interpretation that we don’t think he’s doing a good job is, I think, a very erroneous conclusion.”

Nestande said he opposed raising Thomas’ salary because, “I happen to feel that’s all the CAO (county administrative officer) in Orange County is worth.”

“Some salaries peak out, and I think that’s the peak salary for a CAO in Orange County,” Nestande said.

Nestande acknowledged, however, that the board is offering a salary of up to $96,000 to attract good candidates to replace Thomas.

’ Not Pleased About That’ “The world of reality says that when you go out and do a new recruitment, you’re left with no choice,” Nestande said. “I’m not pleased about that.”

“I wouldn’t suggest that we go out and name a building after a person if I didn’t think they were doing a great job,” Nestande said. “It’s nice to name buildings, and I can’t think of a more appropriate person for it to be named after than a person who was the first CAO of Orange County and brought it from a rural, agrarian nature to basically a major urban center, and did a very good job in doing so.”