Supervisors Publicize Offer to Mittermeier, Raising Stakes

In a move that could prompt Jan Mittermeier to quit as Orange County’s chief executive, the Board of Supervisors took the unusual step Wednesday of making a contract offer public--an offer that reduces her authority and changes her title.

Supervisor William G. Steiner, designated by the board to negotiate with Mittermeier, said he was making the proposed contract public because the two sides could not come to agreement yet after a month of talks and because the situation has become “too political.”

“I just want to get this out there and let the chips fall where they may,” he said.

Mittermeier declined to comment. The board is expected to vote Tuesday on what could be its final offer to her, regardless of whether she decides by then to agree to the terms.

Revisions to Mittermeier’s contract would restore some of the board’s former power in approving top-level hires, change her title to executive director and increase her salary by $12,000, to $160,000 a year, starting in July.

The 58-year-old executive has battled to protect the powers ceded to her by the board three years ago as the county worked to recover from its 1994 bankruptcy.

Meantime, she has won praise from supervisors and Wall Street for her help in restructuring the county’s bankruptcy debt and streamlining the bureaucracy. Admirers say she was instrumental in bringing the county out of bankruptcy only 18 months after it filed for protection from creditors.

Governing magazine, a national publication for government leaders, recently named Mittermeier one of the nation’s top 11 public officials for the year.

But some officials have accused her in the past year of retaining too much power and failing to keep all board members informed of major decisions. Two supervisors have complained that she didn’t give them information on controversial county issues, such as the planned El Toro airport.

She also has become an election-year issue as some candidates for the board are calling for limits on her authority. The controversy has prompted a surge of passionate letters to local newspapers, mainly from those who worry that she isn’t accountable to the board for some major decisions in the county.

Steiner, who supports Mittermeier, said he attempted to create a compromise to satisfy some of her critics while still allowing her enough power to do her job effectively.

“This is not a referendum on Jan Mittermeier, nor is it a referendum on the El Toro Airport,” he stated in a letter to his colleagues. “It is an issue of good government based on good business principles that have led us out of an unprecedented financial crisis.”

The proposed contract would allow the supervisors to reject a candidate for a top department position with a four-fifths vote.

Currently, Mittermeier hires and fires department heads without consulting the board. She has said she would not support a change of duties requiring her to consult with supervisors on hirings, but she would not say whether she would agree to the new contract proposal.

The offer would extend her employment for three more years and provide six months’ severance pay, with one additional week granted for each year of employment up to a maximum of 12 weeks.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, Mittermeier’s most vocal critic on the board, said he wanted the board to have full authority over hirings and will not support a requirement of a four-fifths vote on hiring.

“If it takes three votes for us to approve a $3.6-billion budget, then we should be able to vote for department heads with a simple majority,” he said.

Steiner and Supervisor Charles V. Smith, who also supports Mittermeier, said they would back the contract proposal. “If it’s acceptable to her, it’s acceptable to me,” Smith said.

The swing votes appear to be either Tom Wilson or Jim Silva, both of whom said they would not comment on the contract.

“I’m not sure what my position will be,” Wilson said. “This is a very controversial and a very complex decision. There are still a lot of variables to think about.”