Supervisors Propose Further Reductions in Powers of CAO : County: Prompted by Dixon’s announced intent to resign, board members discuss retracting more of the authority they have granted over the years.

In the wake of Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon’s announcement that he will step down, Los Angeles County supervisors turned their attention Wednesday to further whittling away the powers they gave to the man described as one of the nation’s most powerful bureaucrats.

Supervisor Gloria Molina proposed stripping the chief administrative officer of his authority to rearrange department budgets at will without approval of the Board of Supervisors.

She also proposed that supervisors form committees with greater oversight over the county’s $13-billion budget, county hospitals and other county functions.

Supervisor Ed Edelman proposed eliminating the executive’s power to make personnel decisions.

“It’s time all of us on the board stop avoiding our responsibilities as elected officials and start making the tough decisions we get paid for,” Molina said. “It’s time we stop delegating so much of our authority to the chief administrative officer.”

A majority of supervisors appeared ready to move ahead with a nationwide search for a successor to Dixon, despite a November ballot measure that would create an elected county executive to replace the appointed officer. The supervisors said finding a successor could take months at a time when the county needs a hands-on administrator to deal with severe budget problems.

If the ballot measure passes, the county executive would be elected in 1994. The position would become chief financial officer to the elected executive.

Dixon, accused of misspending millions of dollars on pension increases and other perks for himself and other top officials, announced Tuesday that he will resign by year’s end “in the best interests of the county.”

His decision to end his tumultuous five years as top executive came after one of his most loyal supporters, Supervisor Deane Dana, called for his resignation.

Dana, who had favored a strong administrative officer before it became a troubling election year issue, said “the CAO will be a different” job than it has been.

Dana said he wants to set new restrictions on the post before proceeding with a nationwide search. But he said he believes the search could be under way in a few weeks and a successor could be named by the end of the year.

In seeking to take back authority they had bestowed on the administrative officer, the supervisors continued a process they began Tuesday when they voted to limit the executive’s power to award contracts without board approval.

As administrative officer, Dixon enjoyed more authority to award contracts than Gov. Pete Wilson. He could rearrange department budgets at will, something Mayor Tom Bradley cannot do. And although he is not elected, he enjoyed such perks as a bulletproof car with a sheriff’s deputy as chauffeur and an open-ended expense account.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said any decision on replacing Dixon--including hiring an executive recruiter--should wait until one and possibly two new board members take office in December.

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and state Sen. Diane Watson are running in the November election to succeed Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who is retiring. Dana is in a runoff election with Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson.

Antonovich said the appointment of an administrative officer should be decided by the new board. “That’s as it always has been,” he said. “Some boards have sought to retain the executive officer, some have sought out new personnel.”

Antonovich said he believes Dixon will still be on board at swearing-in time, so there will not be a need to name an interim caretaker. Dixon has said that he will stay on to help the county through its “greatest budget crisis,” but did not specify a resignation date other than to say it will be before year’s end.

Dana said Antonovich is alone in his views on not moving ahead with a replacement. “Mike’s still fighting it, but Dixon is gone,” Dana said.

Other reforms on the executive’s power and his relationship with the supervisors should also wait until new board members are elected, Antonovich said. “This is an issue that needs to be discussed with the new board,” said Antonovich. “Anything else would be premature.”

Antonovich rejected Molina’s proposal to establish a series of board committees, which she said would provide greater oversight of county business.

Edelman said he, too, opposes Molina’s proposal for the five-member board to break up into committees of three supervisors each and meet more frequently. He said he believes that an elected county executive would make Molina’s proposal unnecessary. And in a sign of the growing rancor on the board, Edelman added: “If she’s coming to the committee, I may not want to be there, thanks.”

Supervisors usually see one another at half a dozen board meetings a month and, critics say, have generally left the running of county government to the administrative officer and other bureaucrats.

Under an employment contract signed by Dixon and the county in February, 1989, the executive would receive six months severance pay if he is fired--with or without cause. But County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said Dixon would not be eligible to receive the “termination benefits” if he resigned voluntarily.

Dixon earns about $200,000 a year in salary and benefits and will earn a pension of about $130,000 annually upon his retirement.

The county has never hired an administrative officer from outside the Los Angeles County bureaucracy.

Only one supervisor, Hahn, has expressed a preference for a successor to Dixon--Mary Jung, Dixon’s chief assistant.

Jung, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant cook, began her 19 years of county service as an accountant. She said Wednesday, “I’d be a fool to not be interested. . . . Richard has trained me for the position.”

Also mentioned as a possible candidate is Dixon’s predecessor, Jim Hankla, who left the county job to become Long Beach city manager. He declined to comment Wednesday. Also mentioned as possible candidates are Sandra Davis, a career county bureaucrat who succeeded Dixon as treasurer-tax collector in 1987, and Ventura County Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, who was a finalist in 1985.

Wittenberg would not say whether he is interested in the job. “I’m very happy where I am,” he said, “and let’s just leave it at that.”