Plan to Overcome Ventura County Fiscal Woes May Test Commitment

When David L. Baker quit last year after four days as Ventura County’s chief administrative officer, he left behind a six-page letter that blasted what he saw as years’ worth of dysfunction that was bleeding county government of its fiscal and managerial stability.

Today, Harry Hufford, the retired Los Angeles County administrator hired to turn things around, will present a letter of his own to the Board of Supervisors.

Hufford proposes a fix to what he, Baker and supervisors agree is a flawed system that allowed years of deficit spending and end-runs by department heads around the administrator.

The presentation of that five-page plan at this morning’s board meeting sets the stage for a showdown among Hufford, the five county supervisors who promised him the power he needed to do his job and the department and agency heads who have fought his efforts with increasing intensity as this month’s budget talks approach.

Hufford wants 31 changes that would strengthen the chief administrator’s powers--while he is serving as the interim administrator--putting in check appointed and elected department and agency heads and, to some extent, supervisors.

He is asking supervisors to pass his proposal as a resolution, which can be adopted immediately, as opposed to an ordinance, which requires public hearings and takes longer to pass.

Their response to his requests will be the first real test of their commitment to change, as the county emerges from the $25-million blow of a federal probe into improper mental health billing through the Medicare program.

Board Chairwoman Kathy Long said she will vote for his resolution, because she wants Hufford “to be in a strong position to bring to the board issues, and financial figures, and all the information we need, with no questions, so that we can trust the information.”

But Supervisor John Flynn said he supports only certain portions of Hufford’s resolution. He opposes wording that suggests Hufford should dictate policy to elected department heads and that discourages supervisors from debating policy he has not signed off on.

Hufford’s resolution turns the overall theme of the county’s existing CAO ordinance on its head. Rather than the administrator asking supervisors for permission before taking action, Hufford’s plan generally gives the administrator the right to make decisions unless a majority of supervisors tells him not to.