At the end of the marathon public interviewing of the sheriff candidates, there was an intra-Board kerfuffle over how soon the Supes could and would vote to select a new sheriff.

During the discussion, it emerged that it would still be necessary to conduct another background before the job could be offered -- which caught the Supes by surprise. It turns out an appointed sheriff has to undergo a background investigation by a POST-certified investigator before he or she can actually be appointed.

Supervisor Norby was nonplussed that this hadn't already taken care of. After all, since we know the next sheriff is going to come from the nine finalists, couldn't this Phase II background check have been done ahead of time so the new sheriff can be brought on board poste haste?

Furthermore, according to County Counsel, the county's HR department has a POST-certified background investigator on standby.

Here's the memo from the county counsel