Hickey to Leave Post as County’s No. 1 Executive : Government: The chief administrator, credited with putting San Diego County ‘back together,’ says he’ll retire in January, 1993.

County Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey, a career public administrator who has shunned the limelight in his nearly five years as the county’s top executive, said Wednesday that he will step down on Jan. 31, 1993.

But, in an unusual arrangement that has yet to be ratified by county supervisors, Hickey will serve as a $26-a-year special employee for the ensuing three years, until he reaches the 10 years of required service he needs to be vested in the county pension plan. Hickey’s future duties have yet to be defined.

“I think it’s time to go when your contributions have been made,” Hickey said in an interview Wednesday. “I think it’s enough. It will be close to 50 years of public service.”

County Supervisor John MacDonald, who has been working out the details of Hickey’s new contract along with Supervisor Susan Golding, said Wednesday that Hickey “has put the county back together again after a period of turbulence. He’s done a very good job with the community.”

“When I think of where we were five years ago, he’s done a massive reorganization in the county,” Golding said.

With Golding and MacDonald acting as a subcommittee of the five-member board on Hickey’s contract, the news of Hickey’s plans to step down from his $134,000-a-year post took at least one supervisor by surprise.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Supervisor Leon Williams said. “I’m not aware of the fact that he’s planning to retire.”

Hickey’s plans are scheduled to be discussed in open session Nov. 19, Golding and MacDonald said. But Tuesday, in a vote on a pay ordinance that covers a wide range of county employees, the board increased Hickey’s deferred compensation plan from $41,673 annually to $75,010 annually.

Hickey, who will not receive a pay raise this year, said the money will be set aside only for the 14 months he is earning his current salary. But Hickey must stay in the county’s employ for three more years in order to collect the money, said John Sansone, a deputy county counsel.

The board also liberalized Hickey’s severance benefits, providing for six months’ pay if he leaves his post for any reason except for a termination based on malfeasance in office or conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, Sansone said.

The compensation ordinance vote came without debate on the supervisors’ so-called “consent” agenda. MacDonald said the rest of Hickey’s contract was scheduled to be presented Tuesday, but was not prepared in time.

Hickey, 64, came to the county in 1986 after serving as county administrator in Hillsborough County, Fla., where he was credited with helping expose rampant corruption. Hickey acted as an FBI informant for more than a year before three of the five Hillsborough County commissioners who hired him were indicted in 1983 on charges of conspiring to extort $75,000 from a developer seeking a zoning change.

One of the commissioners pleaded guilty and two others were convicted by a federal jury.

Hickey replaced Clifford W. Graves, who resigned under pressure from the supervisors after a major scandal and allegations of mismanagement involving department directors he had appointed. Graves is now a San Diego Unified Port District commissioner.

Like many top administrators of public agencies, Hickey is credited with working quietly behind the scenes and leaving the limelight to elected officials. But some might argue that he has taken that bureaucratic philosophy to an extreme: It is not unusual for him to go through entire full-day board meetings without speaking on an issue. Most often, he delegates that responsibility to assistants.

Hickey said he is seeking the extended employment arrangement because, after moving from one government job to the next without serving the necessary vesting period, he has little in the way of pension benefits for his family.

Golding and MacDonald said the arrangement will not be a sinecure for Hickey, whose talents will be needed as the county works its way through one of its most difficult financial periods in years.

Hickey left the door open to serve beyond his self-imposed retirement date to head a transition period before the next chief administrative officer takes over. With Golding and Supervisor George Bailey expected not to run for reelection, a revamped board would be choosing Hickey’s successor.

“He is at that age where he is most concerned about retirement,” Golding said. “And being able to provide for his family, that meant more to him than salary.”