O.C. Selects Fiscal Officer to Resolve Crisis

The embattled Orange County Board of Supervisors, under pressure to choose an interim chief executive officer without further delay, turned Friday to William J. Popejoy, a former American Savings & Loan chairman who offered his services to the bankrupt county for free.

The selection of Popejoy, 56, of Newport Beach, was announced late in the day by the supervisors, who said they were impressed by his corporate experience, his “head-on” approach and his Orange County roots.

Charting a course for the county’s recovery “won’t be easy,” Popejoy said afterward in a telephone interview. “I know there will be frustrations, but I know it can be fixed.” He said he had already begun to set up weekend meetings with senior county staff members.

The selection followed a lengthy interview process that prompted critics to accuse the board of being indecisive at a time when the county is in urgent need of strong leadership to help it weather the Dec. 6 bankruptcy. The new chief executive is to have broad new powers to reorganize county government and slash budgets.

The supervisors’ unanimous choice of Popejoy, who is also a former president of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surprised county insiders and others who had watched the board in recent days as it appeared to veer toward first one candidate and then another.

Until nearly the final hours, sources said, Popejoy had ranked behind two other candidates for the high-profile, four-to six-month job: corporate turnaround specialist Sanford C. Sigoloff and B. J. Rone, a corporate rescuer from Dallas.

After the decision, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez said Popejoy’s Orange County residency and knowledge of the county had helped tip the scales in his favor.

“We evaluated the factors of experience, knowledge and, in particular, his knowledge of Orange County,” Vasquez said, adding that Popejoy has “extensive corporate background” in the county.

Popejoy’s offer to work at no cost was not a factor, Vasquez said, but Sigoloff’s rate of $500 an hour had raised eyebrows. Rone had said he would charge $275 an hour for his services.

Legally, Popejoy said, the county is required to pay him a salary, but he plans to donate it back to the county. Supervisors said the token salary would be minimal.

Although Popejoy’s contract will not be finalized for several days, Vasquez said, the position is likely to come with greater authority than that granted to former County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider, who was demoted last month after supervisors complained of his lack of leadership during the crisis.

Schneider could not be reached for comment.

Unlike Sigoloff and Rone, who had both said they would need to bring in outside help to assist them in the formidable task of reorganizing the county, Popejoy told the supervisors he believed there was enough “talent within the county government” to accomplish the task, Vasquez said.

“I liked his overall style,” Vasquez said. “He approaches things head-on.”

Popejoy said he believed the county’s complex financial problems can be “substantially under control in six months. The job won’t be done but everything should be in place. The goal is to have a process in place that will have broad grass-roots support in the county.

“What we need is the community at large behind us,” he added. “If we have that, and I think we will because people here are bright and understand we have a problem, we will then have solutions in place, though they may take more than six months to conclude.”

Regarding the volatile issue of a tax increase, which has been endorsed by business community members in recent days, Popejoy said “taxes are not on the table,” at least for the moment.

“I’m not going to get involved with a discussion on a tax increase until we make the cuts we need to make and sell assets . . . privatizing the services that are appropriate,” Popejoy said. Any decision on a tax hike will be made later, he said, and only after county officials first try to “save money and generate funds within the county.”

The appointment met with sighs of relief from county department heads and employees, who had expressed fear about what appeared to be the imminent appointment of Sigoloff, a corporate turnaround specialist with a reputation for slashing budgets and work forces.

Sigoloff was widely viewed as the front-runner until midweek; according to county sources, at least three supervisors were prepared to vote for him at that point but demurred because they hoped to find a candidate whom they could support unanimously.

Tired of two weeks of wranglings with the county, Sigoloff sent a letter Friday to Supervisor Marian Bergeson, saying he would withdraw his name if a decision was not made by 5 p.m.

“The delay, coupled with the continuing absence of a job description . . . have raised new concerns for me!” Sigoloff said in the letter. “Thus if no definitive word is received from the Board of Supervisors by 5 p.m. . . . I intend to withdraw my name from consideration.”

Sigoloff could not be reached for comment.

“Oh, great,” said Rone when told of the county’s decision by a reporter. “I think he’s a good choice. He lives there, and he has a lot of experience.”

Times staff writers Lee Romney, Debora Vrana, J.R. Moehringer and David Reyes and correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.