Affirmative Action Post Reduced to Part-Time Job : Budget: Advocates for women and minorities are angered by the decision to slash funding for the county watchdog on race and sex discrimination.

Budget cuts have eliminated Ventura County’s official watchdog on race and sex discrimination, reducing the position to a part-time job and angering advocates for women and minorities.

Forced to trim 15% from his budget, Personnel Director Ronald Komers cut funding for the county’s full-time affirmative action officer, who monitors minority recruiting and hiring and investigates complaints.

The move comes at a time when minorities make up nearly a third of the county government’s work force, but hold only 7% of the executive jobs and remain underrepresented in middle-management and law enforcement, according to a study released in February.

Bob Bland, chairman of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, said he fears that the loss of the full-time position will erode the county’s progress in recruiting and hiring minorities.

“At best, the result can only be an uneven application of the principles and practices of Affirmative Action and at worst total neglect,” Bland warned in a letter to the Board of Supervisors this week asking the position be restored.

In addition to the letter, Bland said he plans to address the issue during the supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday.

Komers could not be reached for comment, but other officials described the position as a luxury the county could no longer afford. Faced with a deficit reaching $16 million, the supervisors slashed deep into departments in July. The cuts come on top of four years of budget shortfalls.

“The priorities have not changed,” said Robert Hirtensteiner, assistant chief administrative officer. “We are certainly concerned and that is still a top priority. I think Mr. Komers felt it could be added with some functions.”

Maria Diaz, who has served as the county’s affirmative action officer since the position as created in 1982, will now have primary responsibility for assisting four county departments with recruitment and hiring.

She will share the work for the county’s affirmative action program with half a dozen other co-workers, who also have full workloads helping various county agencies.

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Bland said he worries that diluting the affirmative action duties sends a message to department heads that the program is no longer a priority.

“It says that when times are good and the budget is there, it’s one of those nice things to do. But when times get tough, this is dispensable,” he said.

Under the reorganization, Diaz will no longer be responsible for investigating complaints by county employees about unfair promotions or alleged discrimination. Until now, she has handled about 20 complaints every year.

Instead, such grievances will be directed to an affirmative action coordinator within each department. Bland said that system could discourage employees from filing complaints and place coordinators in the awkward position of investigating their superiors.

“You would never really know how far you could go without jeopardizing your own career,” he said.

If employees do not feel comfortable with the county’s new internal investigation system, they could take their grievances to the employees’ union or the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

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Hirtensteiner said he does not think the reorganization will limit employees’ abilities to report abuses or perceived wrongs.

“I think we have enough checks and balances that we would hopefully head off any potential problems we would create,” he said.

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said the board will continue to monitor the county’s progress on affirmative action. But she said the county cannot afford to restore the full-time position.

“Although I sympathize with what Bob (Bland) is saying, I hear this every day from various . . . departments and constituencies,” she said.

“People have got to start to understand that you can’t do all the wonderful things we’ve done in the past when we don’t have the money.”