Mittermeier Keeps Job for Now

Orange County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier was called behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss why she was pursuing a job at Los Angeles International Airport at a time when critics say she has fallen behind in her oversight of El Toro airport planning.

However, no action was taken by the board after a meeting that lasted more than two hours. Supervisors refused to discuss the details of Tuesday’s session, citing the confidentiality of the personnel matter. Supervisor Todd Spitzer said no further meetings to discuss Mittermeier’s future had been set.

Prior to the hastily called meeting to serve as Mittermeier’s “performance evaluation,” supervisors seemed intent on a possible dismissal of the top executive, but also had expressed reluctance to do so when only three of the five supervisors were available. Supervisor Jim Silva was home ill and Supervisor Tom Wilson had a previous commitment.

“We think they all want to be there when such an important vote is being taken,” said one county official.

Mittermeier, who could not be reached for comment late Tuesday, attended part of the meeting and left shortly after it began. During the session, County Counsel Laurence W. Watson was called in by supervisors, but also declined to comment on what had transpired.

Mittermeier’s fate remains unclear as she continues to be a lightning rod for controversy and criticism for recent El Toro setbacks.

Measure F on the county ballot, approved overwhelmingly at the polls March 7, seeks to halt a proposed El Toro airport. Some took the measure’s passage as a referendum on the often-rocky airport planning process, which Mittermeier oversees.

She was blasted by some board members after failing to have a contingency plan in place for dealing with the measure’s passage. And Mittermeier has angered her bosses for failing to keep them informed of major decisions, especially relating to El Toro.

The latest speculation about her future came after she interviewed for the deputy director’s position at Los Angeles International Airport. When that job search became public, she said she would withdraw her application.

LAX Won’t Discuss Her Job Prospects

At LAX, a spokeswoman would not discuss Mittermeier’s prospects and would not say whether there were any ongoing discussions about her coming to work for the airport. Another source close to the discussions, however, said that as of last week, Mittermeier was considered a potential candidate for a top job in the city’s Airport Department, which oversees LAX and Ontario airports as well as smaller facilities in Van Nuys and Palmdale.

LAX spokeswoman Nancy Castles was more circumspect.

“We can confirm that we have openings for a chief operating officer, a deputy director for environmental management and a deputy director for public affairs,” Castles said. “They are currently being recruited for.”

Castles would not confirm that Mittermeier had interviewed for one of those jobs, nor would she say whether Mittermeier had withdrawn her bid for a post.

“We really can’t say anything about it,” Castles said.

Sources say Mittermeier considered the LAX job after learning about a proposal that would diminish her authority. That plan had the board creating a separate department outside Mittermeier’s control to handle oversight of El Toro and John Wayne Airport, sources said.

Mittermeier earns $160,000 a year and has one year left on a contract that began Sept. 25, 1998. A severance package is said to be worth at least $170,000, possibly more, depending upon the details of a departure, officials said.

Mittermeier has won praise for her role in leading the county out of its post-bankruptcy woes. But her tenure has also been marked by conflict.

Tuesday’s closed-door meeting was a scenario that has played itself out several times during Mittermeier’s stormy tenure. After an especially tense clash, she is brought behind closed doors by her bosses, speculation abounds that she will be fired, and then she emerges, relatively unscathed.

Also contributing to this article was Times staff writer Jim Newton.