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County administrator Dan Buckshi resigns abruptly

May 12, 2017

Dan Buckshi

By KAREN VELIE

In a snippy letter to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, county administrator Dan Buckshi announced his resignation Friday Morning.

In 2012, the board of supervisors, with a liberal board majority that included supervisors Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson, voted to hire Buckshi. During the past five years, Buckshi has regularly promoted issues important to Hill and Gibson.

Under Buckshi, county staff approved the spending of facility fees raised in Nipomo for projects such as a skate park in Gibson’s and a botanical garden in Hill’s district. While county administrators claim facility fees can be moved from on area of the county to another, the law appears to say otherwise.

Several residents of Nipomo plan to file a lawsuit against the county for the alleged misappropriation of the Nipomo facility fees.

In his resignation announcement, Buckshi noted his lack of support for the current board majority of John Peschong, Debbie Arnold and Lynn Compton.

“We have an incredibly talented workforce, especially our executive team and our Administrative Office staff. In my opinion, they are second to none,” Buckshi’s announcement says. “However, the current Board of Supervisors is very different than the Board that promoted me to the County Administrative Officer (CAO) position five years ago.”

Buckshi joined the County of San Luis Obispo in 2002 as an administrative analyst. In 2006 he was promoted to budget director and in 2010 to assistant county administrative officer. In 2012, he was appointed as the county administrative officer.

“I would like to thank Dan Buckshi for his years of service to our County.  During the short time I have worked with Dan, I have seen his leadership and professionalism and he has always strived to move our community forward and do what’s right for the citizens of San Luis Obispo County.  I know he will do a great job for the City of Walnut Creek,” Peschong said.

Buckshi is leaving the San Luis Obispo County for a city manager position in Walnut Creek.

The Walnut Creek City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Bucishi’s contract. Walnut Creek is slated to pay Buckshi an annual salary of $254,000. In addition, he will be eligible to receive a loan of up to $300,000 to purchase a home in Walnut Creek, according to the proposed contract.


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Now is not the time to turn the heat down on the liberal tax, squander, and steal bureaucrats. If they will leave voluntarily good riddance. If not find new department heads who will document the crimes of these criminals and show them the door. Unfortunately there are a lot of them to get rid of. We need to stop looking the other way and get to work. While I lament some other poor taxpayers will get stuck with these swamp rats they won’t be sucking us dry.


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Nicely executed Peschong! And I am a bleeding heart liberal who doesn’t believe all government employees are free loaders and losers.


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Certainly “not all government employees are free loaders and losers” and Staff has their assignment per their management, The Board of Supervisors, the voters.


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“not all government employees are free loaders and losers” but far too many are.


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All kidding aside, could Buckshi have survived John Peschong, Debbie Arnold and Lynn Compton, or was he headed for serious problems?


Or rather, if he “went by the book” could he have survived Hill and Gibson?


I’m just trying to figure out just how political the CAO’s job is? If they do a diligent job by the numbers, combined with decent communication skills, are they difficult to can or are they always at the mercy of the supervisors?


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$300K won’t get him much these days – even in Walnut Creek.


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I don’t understand how one can see this as “abruptly resigning” as there had to have been time to apply and interview for the walnut creek position. I wonder if he traveled on the SLO taxpayer dime to go interview. This city administration is bloated with overpaid administrators. It’s a bitch when you have a board majority that doesn’t want to waste taxpayer money like Hill and Gibson have been doing for years. How these two keep getting elected is beyond me.


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Good for you Dan, but mostly good for SLO County citizens. Don’t let the door…well, you know what I was going to say. Move on down the road and take Rita Neal too. Draining the swamp has begun!


This whole thing about governments offering loans to entice prospects to join their ranks is disgusting and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s illegal. What a misuse of public funds! Come on people, start hollering about this. Happened here locally with the San Luis Coastal School District approving a $950,000 home loan for superintendent…shameful!


Drain the swamp!!


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What I read is a generous Board hired him and a common sense, fiscally conservative, Board gave cause for him leave. Looks like the swamp is going to go dry and expose the trash on the bottom. Even governance can be recycled, lots of work ahead.


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Can we please now get rid of Rita Neal. PLEASE !


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If we are making a list of people that need to go it will be a long one and Christine Dietrick has to be near the top.


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Dietrick is city, not county.


But Buckshi is a good start. One down, two to go: Rita Neal and Jeff Hamm should be next.


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I never said Dietrick was county, I said if we are making a list of over-paid useless public servant types that need to go, covering county, city, state, federal, all of them, that Dietrick needs to be at the top of the list. and that it would be a long long list.


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