County Chief’s Plan Faces Showdown

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 destabilizing county government.

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 will propose fixing what many agree is a flawed system that allowed years of deficit spending and end runs on the administrator by department heads.

His presentation of that plan at this morning’sboard meeting sets the stage for a showdown between 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 to strengthen the chief administrator’s powers, putting appointed and elected department and agency heads--and to some extent, supervisors--in check.

“My goal is to strengthen the organization of the county,” Hufford said.

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.