COUNTYWIDE : 2 County Officials’ Contracts Extended

Ventura County supervisors Tuesday approved a four-year contract extention for county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg after rejecting a request to delay the vote until after the June election.

The supervisors extended the $123,600-a-year contract of Wittenberg--who had 2 1/2 years left on his previous pact--until mid-1998.

The board also extended the contract of veteran County Counsel James L. McBride, which does not expire for 13 months, to January, 1997. McBride makes $106,600 a year.

Supervisors said the contracts were recognition not only of jobs well done, but that both Wittenberg and McBride are talented public administrators who could move to lucrative jobs elsewhere if they wanted.

“I would like to send out a very strong signal that says this county wants to keep Richard Wittenberg here and Jim McBride here,” Chairwoman Maggie Erickson Kildee said.

But Pat Baggerly, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Environmental Coalition, said that in these difficult economic times, Wittenberg’s contract should include specific goals. He could be judged, for example, on whether the county maintains services at current levels or decreases the cost of providing services, she said.

Erickson Kildee said Wittenberg already has performance goals in his contract. Wittenberg said the requirements are general.

Baggerly also asked the supervisors to delay extending the chief administrator’s contract until after the June election because three supervisors are up for reelection and may not be on the board after that.

But Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said Wittenberg never rests on his laurels. “He is known as probably the best CAO in California,” she said.

Wittenberg, 51, became the county’s chief executive and the board’s principal adviser in 1979. McBride, 54, has been the county’s top legal adviser since 1985. Both have worked for the county for more than two decades.