Supervisors Will Narrow List for Top Administrator : Government: The board plans to start interviewing possible replacements for Wittenberg on Wednesday. Three local officials are among the 10 finalists.

After a difficult, three-month statewide search, Ventura County supervisors will meet today to begin narrowing the list of candidates for the county’s top manager job.

The supervisors will gather behind closed doors to try to shorten a list of 10 candidates--including three local officials--to five or fewer, officials said. The supervisors will then begin interviewing applicants Wednesday for the $123,000-a-year chief administrator’s job.

Penny Bohannon, county lobbyist and legislative analyst; Peter S. Pedroff, director of the county’s General Services Agency, and Simi Valley City Manager Lin Koester are among the 10 finalists, sources said.

Although Bohannon and Koester declined to confirm whether they are among the top candidates, both said they are interested in the position. Pedroff could not be reached for comment.

“I do have an interest in the job,” said Koester, who served as director of the county’s Resource Management Agency from 1971 to 1979. “But I also love my job in Simi Valley.”

If all goes well this week, the county could have a new manager in place by mid-May or possibly sooner, said Norm Roberts, the Los Angeles consultant hired to find a replacement for former administrator Richard Wittenberg. Wittenberg resigned in January to take a similar job in Santa Clara County.

The search for a new county manager has been anything but easy, with only 55 candidates applying for a job that would normally attract as many as 75, Roberts said.

The state’s ongoing financial troubles, an unusually competitive market and a limited pool of qualified candidates contributed to the difficulties, Roberts said.

“This is not a good time to be recruiting for counties,” he said. “Counties are a creation of the state, and the state has not been kind to counties. It’s a tough time financially. And people are concerned about managing an organization that does not have enough resources. That’s not just Ventura County, that’s all counties.”

Adding to the problem, Roberts said, is the fact that eight of the state’s 58 counties are in the process of recruiting new chief administrators. Roberts said he was also looking for someone who had experience working in a large county with its own public hospital.

“Finding someone with experience in that area has been difficult,” he said. “There are a limited number of people from large counties with hospital experience.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo said the board anticipated some recruitment problems at the outset, but he is satisfied with the pool of applicants.

“I’m pleased with the quality of people who have applied,” he said. “Ventura County has a lot to offer.”

Although local candidates have the advantage of knowing the area and the people, Schillo said other applicants may have certain qualities or skills better suited for the job.

“You could make a case for a local official, and you could make a case for someone who is not local,” he said. “It’s a tossup.”

Supervisor John Flynn said he also is pleased with the number and quality of applicants. Flynn added that where a candidate is from is only one among many issues the board will consider.

“I don’t want to say that a local candidate is going to have a leg up on anyone,” he said. “You have to treat everyone fairly.”

Roberts said that all the 10 finalists have some county government experience, although not necessarily as a chief administrator. The candidates range in age from the late 30s to the mid-50s.

If a new manager is selected within the next week, Roberts said, a more extensive background search will have to be conducted, taking about two weeks to complete. That person would then have to give 30 days notice to his or her current employer and would assume the new position by mid-May, Roberts said.

In the event that a local candidate is chosen, however, that person could be on board much sooner, officials said.

Meanwhile, county supervisors will also discuss in closed session today appointing a replacement director to the county’s Health Care Agency. Phillipp K. Wessels, the agency’s former director, died of cancer earlier this month.