Scrap the Secrecy

Here are a couple of points for the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to bear in mind as it discusses how to expand the powers of the county’s chief administrator:

* Crafting a job description that takes full advantage of interim Chief Administrative Officer Harry L. Hufford is important--but not nearly as important as using Hufford’s talents and expertise to redefine the job for future CAOs.

* One of the main problems Hufford was hired to tackle was county government’s inefficient legacy of back-channel deal-making and department-head end runs. Those bad habits flourish in a culture of secrecy and closed-door meetings; the strongest antidote is open discussion and full public input.

That’s why the supervisors were correct to scrap their planned closed session and instead hold public discussions about how to fortify the administrator’s job. State law requires it to be discussed openly, for one thing. For another, the public deserves to see and hear the factors that go into this important policy decision.

Openness is a point of pride for Hufford, a respected former Los Angeles County chief administrator who rode to Ventura County’s rescue after the abrupt resignation of CAO David Baker last fall after only four days on the job. In a letter, Baker told the board he lacked the power to control county government, and that his successor should be given more authority.

Nearing the midpoint of his seven-month interim assignment, Hufford is discovering just how correct Baker was. Supervisors Kathy Long and John Flynn have offered plans to extend Hufford’s contract to next April, and to consider giving him power to hire and fire department heads, greater control over the budget and authority to reel in department heads and even supervisors who are disrupting the flow of county government.

We’re all for keeping Hufford around as long as he is willing. But at 68, he’s eager to get on with retirement. A permanent replacement must be found. The challenge is to expand the CAO job in ways that will survive that transition and prevent the bad habits from reappearing.

Above all, it needs to be done in public view.