After some discussion during the Sept. 2 meeting of the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors, a recruitment firm will be hired to fill the role of Mariposa County Counsel.
On Aug. 21, Walter Wall stepped away from that role after serving for eight months. He returned to his former position as district attorney following Michael McAfee’s resignation.
McAfee’s resignation is an entire story in and of itself, but the supervisors were faced with a need to find someone to replace Wall’s vacant role.
On Sept. 2, Mariposa County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch asked the board to discuss and give possible direction on the recruitment for the county counsel role.
They were also asked to appoint Kevin Briggs, the assistant county counsel, as acting county counsel — effective Aug. 22 with a salary of $195,653.42.
The difference between an “acting” and “interim” department head is that an “acting” is an internal candidate and an “interim” is external, Lynch said.
Typically, it would take 30 days for an acting/ interim department head’s position to become effective and they would get 90 percent of the position salary.
Lynch, however, was asking the board to appoint Briggs the acting counsel with the full salary and with a timing of one day after Wall’s resignation.
The county has used that practice twice: Stacey Lynch became the Deputy Director of Behavioral Health for Mariposa County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and Dr. Kristina Keheley became the HHSA director.
“It is not 90 percent of the job, it’s the full job,” Lynch said, adding Briggs also started the acting position immediately.
There were three options to fill the role: have the human resources department fly the position, hire an outside recruitment firm or begin with an internal recruitment and move to an outside firm.
District 5 Supervisor Miles Menetrey asked about the scope of area in which the county can recruit for the role.
Lynch said the job would be posted on job boards, as well as shared in major markets and with the County Counsel Association.
A recruitment firm could cost $20,000 to $30,000. Menetrey asked if Lynch could foresee a salary savings in the time it takes to recruit for the vacant role.
“Absolutely,” Lynch said. Though the cost seems high, having a county counsel will save the county millions of dollars. He did not specify exactly how that would be the case.
District 2 Supervisor Shannon Poe asked about the average lifespan of a county counsel, to which Lynch responded he is not sure.
“We have a lot going on,” District 1 Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe said, noting there is a lot of work at the staff and overall county level. Also, there are only five attorneys in the county as a whole.
Recruiters could have a lot of options “that might just be perfect for us.” Because of that, as well as not wanting to burn Briggs out, she was not sure if the county had any other choice but to use a recruitment firm.
Menetrey said several other counties are looking for similar positions and felt the firm was a good path forward.
Lynch did say the Mariposa counsel role is the lowest paid in the state, so “it’s an uphill battle either way.”
The consensus of the board was to consult an outside recruitment firm. They also voted 5-0 to appoint Briggs as the acting counsel with the full salary.
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