Board OKs $400,000 Expansion of Graves’ Staff

San Diego County’s top administrator won quick approval from the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for a $400,000 expansion of his staff to put in place a series of reforms prompted by a ballot measure approved in November.

Chief Administrative Officer Clifford W. Graves said he needed the new staff members and a package of policy changes also approved Tuesday to implement Proposition A, which gave Graves more power and responsibility while limiting the involvement of the supervisors in the day-to-day management of the county.

The five board members unanimously approved Graves’ proposal without discussion, surprising a few supervisors’ aides, who had predicted that the cost of the changes would be questioned by the board.

“You can’t put all that burden and responsibility on someone and not give them some help,” Supervisor Paul Eckert, the lone board member to oppose Proposition A, said after the meeting. “What are you going to do? The people have voted.”

Eckert said the package was made more palatable in his own mind by the inclusion of a position for a deputy chief administrative officer, who will assume responsibility for the county’s unincorporated areas.

That new position bears some resemblance to Eckert’s proposal for a “town manager” to oversee the needs of the unincorporated areas, a proposal that never gained much support from Eckert’s fellow board members or from the communities it was intended to benefit.

Graves’ proposal called for the addition of nine positions and the transfer of four others from jobs elsewhere in county government. The changes are expected to cost more than $417,000 a year.

Many of the new employees will help Graves keep track of and solve constituents’ problems, a job for which he was not directly responsible before the passage of Proposition A. Under the old law, county supervisors could relay the questions of their constituents directly to the department heads involved, rather than referring the problems to Graves, as they now must do.

The package approved Tuesday will be on the board’s agenda next week for final approval, which is expected to be granted routinely.