High Cost of Transition

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, September 8, 2008
CASSIE MACDUFF

When the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved hiring two "transitional" staff members for Supervisor-elect Neil Derry three months before he takes office, I asked county spokesman David Wert if there were a precedent for it.

He assured me there was.

"Every time there's a new supervisor-elect, a couple of their people are brought in in advance to help with the transition," Wert said, adding that this has been the practice "at least as long as I've been here," almost nine years.

But when I pressed for specifics, I found there's no precedent for a three-month transition.

The amount of money taxpayers will spend for Derry's transition is unprecedented, too.

Derry was allowed to hire a chief of staff and an administrative analyst at a cost of $101,343 for the three months until he's sworn in on Dec. 1.

As a precedent, Wert cited High Desert Supervisor Marsha Turoci in 1988. He said she was the last supervisor before Derry elected in a primary and not sworn in until December.

Turoci's transitional staff came on board five weeks early.

But Wert neglected to mention they were volunteers. Two field representatives worked unpaid through November until Turoci was sworn in.

His next example of "transitional" staff was one field representative hired for Supervisor-elect Bill Postmus on Nov. 21, 2000 -- a mere two weeks before he took office.

The cost: Not to exceed $3,300 in salary and benefits.

Two years later, Supervisor-elect Paul Biane was allowed to hire five staff members for a two-week transition, at a cost not to exceed $13,169.

Wert said each could have used a longer transition.

Derry told me he didn't ask for a three-month transition. But he and Chief of Staff-in-waiting Jim Erwin met with CAO Mark Uffer, and that was the period Uffer suggested, Derry said. Uffer didn't return my call seeking his version.

The supervisors voted on Aug. 26, with outgoing Supervisor Dennis Hansberger abstaining, to let Derry hire Erwin and an analyst at a cost of more than $100,000 for three months' salaries and benefits.

When I asked Derry how the expense is justified, he laughed -- not the reaction I was expecting.

Then he got serious, defending it as necessary to ready his office.

"I don't want to take three months in office putting together a staff," he said, adding that he wants to hire a "first-rate group of people who understand the district" and can give constituents the service they deserve.

Supervisors' staffs have grown, and the issues facing them are more complex, he said.

"I would hope the public would want to be served effectively by its new supervisor," he said. "There are complex issues I will have to vote on right away."

He and Erwin are studying policy and budget matters, and already had received 14 or 15 resumes from which to pick staff and commission appointees, he said, adding, "I think you'll be very impressed with the people we'll hire."

Maybe. But I'd be more impressed with fiscal restraint.

Most newly elected officials get up to speed on their own time before taking office. Voters know there's a learning curve. They might prefer a longer curve to spending $101,343.