CAO Tells Staff He Will Not Step Down : County: Dixon memo is in response to board chairman’s call for his resignation. A grand jury report was critical of chief administrative officer’s practices.

Richard B. Dixon, the embattled chief administrative officer of Los Angeles County, vowed in a memo to his staff to stay on the job despite calls for his resignation and threats of firing.

“I do not intend to resign at this time,” wrote Dixon, 54, in a memo titled “My Tenure--Our Challenge,” which was sent to more than 400 employees.

Dixon noted that he has lost the support of Board of Supervisors Chairman Deane Dana, but reminded his staff that it will take a vote of the entire board to force him to leave.

“I serve at the pleasure of the board and strongly believe that is the correct system of government,” Dixon wrote in the two-paragraph memo sent to employees late Thursday and made public Friday.

Dana, in an election-year turnabout, called Thursday for Dixon’s resignation--a move likely to end the bureaucrat’s five-year reign by the end of the year.

Supervisor Gloria Molina has called for Dixon’s ouster, and both candidates running to succeed retiring Supervisor Kenneth Hahn have said they would vote to fire Dixon. Dana’s vote, added to the other two, would form the majority needed to oust him.

The board has scheduled a special hearing Tuesday afternoon on a blistering Los Angeles County Grand Jury report on Dixon’s office. That report, which described Dixon as “one of the most powerful public administrators in America,” found that he exercises unchecked control over public funds, spending millions of dollars without notifying the Board of Supervisors.

The 60-page audit also criticized the Board of Supervisors for giving Dixon open-ended authority that allowed him to operate without sufficient public oversight.

The auditor’s most damaging findings were that Dixon had discarded virtually all documents related to a controversial $6.1-million renovation of his offices and that he spent twice what the board had publicly authorized for furniture.

In an unexpected development, the grand jury’s auditor, Price Waterhouse, has refused to attend the hearings. Charles T. Gibson, a Price Waterhouse partner, wrote to the supervisors this week that he could not appear at the public forum because his contract with the county forbids discussing the findings of the audit with anyone except grand jury members.

Gibson could not be reached Friday, nor could George Ackerman, foreman of the grand jury.

Tuesday’s hearing is intended for public discussion of the grand jury report, and will provide Dixon a chance to defend himself against the audit’s charges.

Dixon did not return phone calls seeking comment. But in an attempt to buoy staff morale less than a week before the hearing, Dixon wrote in his memo: “The critical press and supervisorial comments are aimed at me and in no way reflect upon the universally acknowledged excellence of you the staff.”

Dixon urged employees to keep focused on their jobs and not be distracted by his political troubles. “The county faces several very serious challenges,” including the civil unrest, increased seismic activity, a sagging economy and budget woes, Dixon wrote.

“The county needs your talent and dedication more today than ever before and I know that each of you will focus on these real challenges and give as you always do generously of your outstanding talents.”