Mittermeier Says She Might Quit

Embattled County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier for the first time Wednesday raised the possibility of stepping down from the job she’s held for five years in exchange for an acceptable severance package.

Mittermeier stressed that resigning is only one option and revealed that she offered to compromise, proposing a power-sharing plan to the Board of Supervisors this week.

“If the supervisors don’t accept the . . . compromise, then that’s a deal breaker,” Mittermeier said in an interview Wednesday. “I just can’t continue in a role where I’d have responsibility for something but no authority. And I can’t put my staff in the dual role of answering to two different masters.”

Her comments come as the Board of Supervisors moves to strip her authority over planning an international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The board has voted to hire a manager to handle the massive project who would answer directly to the supervisors, not to Mittermeier.

But Mittermeier and her attorney contend that forming an independent El Toro planning office violates the terms of her contract, which gives her authority over all county employees, and would “effectively terminate” the county executive.

Mittermeier softened her stance Wednesday, saying she would be willing to stay on with the county if supervisors built a “firewall” between the new El Toro planning office and other county employees that she still supervises.

She said she would accept a compromise only if the new planning office had its own staff and was not sharing employees assigned to her.

County supervisors so far are not enthusiastic about her proposal. They want to use existing employees for El Toro planning as well as other county tasks, according to several top county sources.

“You need to call on support from all kinds of departments, to work as a team,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, a longtime Mittermeier foe. “The CEO would have to work hand in hand with whoever takes over” El Toro planning.

Mittermeier’s attorney, Wylie Aitken, has been in severance negotiations with county officials since supervisors decided last week to create the new El Toro office. Mittermeier said she may know Friday whether an acceptable compromise has been worked out.

“I won’t preclude accepting a severance package, if it’s satisfactory. It’s certainly a possibility,” she said Wednesday.

Clashes With Supervisors

Mittermeier’s future as the county’s top executive has been in question for months as she repeatedly clashed with county supervisors, primarily over her handling of the El Toro issue.

Stripping her of authority over El Toro was the latest effort by the board to keep the six-year planning process on track. The county has spent $40 million in its bid to convert the former Marine base into a commercial airport but without a resolution.

When a planning office was first proposed last month, Mittermeier said it was a “deal breaker” that violated her contract. If the board went forward, she warned, the county would owe her $170,000 in severance pay.

“At first, I thought this would be the first step on the slippery slope backward to our prebankruptcy days,” she said. “But after so many people, including some on the Board of Supervisors, urged me to stay on, I tried to find a way I could make it work.”

But if Mittermeier decides to leave her job, would the Board of Supervisors continue to demand a separate El Toro office?

Supervisor Jim Silva said he favors a separate manager and would want a CEO who could live with that. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, however, offered a different view.

“There was never anything wrong with the model,” Spitzer said. “If you had a CEO who had the confidence of the entire board, one voice would be the way to go.”

Mittermeier declined to discuss details about what severance package she would consider acceptable, saying only: “It has to be something that’s fair to both sides.”

County supervisors declined to comment on negotiations, but one top county official who requested anonymity said: “A severance package looks like the way this is going to wind up.”

Mittermeier had been manager of John Wayne Airport when county supervisors turned to her five years ago to take over as top county executive. The county was trying to extricate itself from its $1.7-billion bankruptcy.

Mittermeier has been difficult to reach in recent weeks because she has been caring for her ailing mother in Lake Elsinore. She said that if she did leave the county, “there were plenty of other options to pursue.”

“In a way, I’d be sad to go, because there is still plenty of county work I want to get done,” she said.

“But the last several months have been highly contentious. I just hope all this can be handled professionally without a lot of back-and-forth bitterness in the newspapers.”

Times staff writer Jean O. Pasco contributed to this report.