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Did SLO County officials violate the Brown Act again?

May 1, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

Less than a week after prosecutors ordered the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to stop breaking the Brown Act, the board has now been accused of failing to publicly appoint its new administrator.

On April 19, the board went into closed session to discuss the selection and appointment of an interim county administrative officer. After more than three hours, County Council Rita Neal reported the board took no reportable action.

However, six days later, the county announced the board had appointed John Nilon as interim CAO, though it was not announced which supervisors voted to hire Nilon and which did not.

While the Brown Act permits a board to consider hiring an administrator in closed session, the appointment needs to be done in a public meeting.

“The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors is pleased to announce the appointment of John Nilon, retired Kern County CAO and Cambria resident, to serve as interim CAO for a minimum of three months,” the county says in its announcement. “Mr. Nilon will take the reins on May 1, 2023, from CAO Wade Horton who recently resigned.”

While Nilon took over as CEO on Monday, the board is scheduled to vote to approve his employment agreement on Tuesday, according to the May 2 agenda. Nilon is in line to receive a salary of approximately $25,000 a month, a $450 monthly car allowances and $1,475 a month for health insurance.

Activist Julie Tacker sent an email on April 26 to the county demanding it cure and correct its action because discussions involving “salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits, of a local agency executive” are not allowed to occur in special meetings, with a carbon copy sent to the SLO County District Attorney’s Office.

Assistant County Counsel Jon Ansolabehere rejected Tackers request, saying that while the board had voted to negotiate a contract with Nilon during the April 19 meeting, the supervisors did not discuss compensation.

In an email response, District Attorney Dan Dow says that if the board voted in closed session to appoint Nilon, the board was legally required to report the vote following the closed session discussion. And if they did not appoint Nilon in closed session, the press release announcing the appointment must be wrong.

“This causes me to conclude that the press release was indeed inaccurate and I urge that it should be immediately corrected, because the steps required for an employee appointment were apparently not completed,” Dow writes in his email to Ansolabehere. “This directly contradicts the plain language of the press release which states the appointment was already made.”

Even so, the county did not change the press release and Nilon began serving as the county’s CEO on Monday.

“With this and with the board’s agenda being posted, I have complete faith that the public is intelligent enough to understand that the board will be considering that final step next week and that any
members of the public who wish to address the board will have an opportunity to do so,” Ansolabehere responded to Dow. “Appreciate the dialogue.”

SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson violated the Brown Act on Feb. 28 when he discussed an item not on the agenda which did not provide an opportunity for public participation, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office later concluded.

On March 25, Deputy District Attorney Ken Jorgensen ordered county officials to start complying with the Brown Act.


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The County did wrong.  The guy started work on Monday and then the BoS approves the contract on Tuesday. Really, this is legal government contracting.


At the Tuesday meeting, County Counsel tried to razzle-dazzle us citizens with a defensive statement but could not disguise its lack of substance and logic. His performance grade as “County Counsel” was “C” at best.   Or he knew the law was being violated in multiple ways and could not compromise himself enough.


For the BoS to continue their blatant gaming of the law and us citizens, they need counsel with less integrity or that are better dancers.


3

On the left, we’ve had Michael Blank’s corruption at CRLA rendering it impotent and Gibson and Hill and Neal on the right exploiting their positions as if nothing will happen to them.


The culture of corruption in SLO is not a secret.


17

Where’s the transparency? What the heck is Rita Neal and the assistant county counsel doing? Maybe this is something the Grand Jury can take a look at. This doesn’t pass the smell test. That always seems to happen when Gibson is involved. It appears to be the same thing again.


25

“What the heck is Rita Neal and the assistant county counsel doing?”, likely planning on how to use their next raise. For a long time it has no longer been quality of work that dictates if Neal keeps her job or get raises, that is assuming you feel her job is to protect the residents of the county instead of the just elite at the top.


5

Neal should do as Carey Alvord did in Paso after her costly boondoggle and resign from her position. Nothing lost in each case, but a whole lot gained.


2

is there a penalty for violating the brown act? Double secret probation?


17

Why do people who make $25,000 per month get additional cash car allowances? At that pay scale can’t they afford to run their cars out of their own pocket?


53

The public process does not mean leadership avoids public input. Then again the live public radio broadcasts were discontinued and their are fewer Board of Supervisor meetings. When we had regular weekly meetings, we had better roads and only paid a stipend to the Board members. There are plenty of examples that prove the consequences of over paid governance to be adverse to the public’s interest. If you pay less there is not time for expense bureaucratic B.S. this only for the justification of more costly governance.


30

“On March 25, Deputy District Attorney Ken Jorgensen ordered county officials to start complying with the Brown Act.” and if they don’t we will put them on double secret probation.


35

Sorry. Didn’t see your comment when I wrote mine with the same animal house reference.


9

Why is an unelected temporary county employee going to make over $30,000 a month counting benefits? A previous article said he did the same job in kern county for 32 years before retiring. Does he still get his retirement benefits from that job while getting paid over $30,000 a month for 3 months? Why is he getting almost $1500 a month in healthcare when he probably already has health care after his retirement from his previous job? Is the $450 car allowance for his own personal vehicle that he already has paid off or is the county going to buy him a new vehicle to use for 3 months?


46

You some kind of communist? Think everyone should get paid the same? It’s not that hard to understand – it’s a big job, few people can do it, the nexus or supply and demand indicates that someone with those skills and experience should be paid a lot. (Although a lot less than what a private sector CEO of an organization this size would make). If you’re really convinced that any plumber or librarian could do the job you should probably first turn your pitchforks to the CEOs of tech companies and hedge funds.


-48

However private companies don’t demand more funds from taxpayers to fund public road maintenance, fund police and fire services, when their revenue doesn’t meet their expenses, where compensation makes up 65-70% of their budget.


36

California has a really volatile tax system not driven constant rate increases (besides small sales tax increases in some cities, where are these “demands” realized?) but by stock-related income flux among SF and LA millionaires. We would probably agree that California taxes are top heavy which contributes to this instability. Where we probably disagree is that it’s probably necessary to reform this system by increasing revenue from the base – probably through replacing the sales tax with a VAT and property tax with a Land Value tax (not left wing ideas!). You seem to think the problem is robbery committed by civil servants and not the mismatch of unstable tax revenue funding a system which is supposed to be stable.


Also the comparison of compensation isn’t fair. Governments are not run for profit which is going to drive down revenue compared to the private sector, and a lot of government is service based – were always going to spend more on nurses and police officers than on stethoscopes and vests.


-22

Just think how many potholes can be filled and police officers hired if they got their budget percentage of compensation down to 35- 40%?


15

When the first thing you do is insult somebody as a response it shows your own self ignorance. Anything you have to say after that is pointless. Asking questions about the use of tax payer money has absolutely nothing do with communist.


24

I’d hoped my joke was hyperbolic enough to be obvious tongue and cheek. Your point was that a management job is getting very high compensation – you’re not wrong of course, over 20k a month is a lot of money. It’s traditionally a left wing opinion that the rich bosses make too much money; your arguments match which is funny because you’re (probably) not a left wing fellow – let alone a communist. Pointing out this surface level commonality with your political adversary is ironic humor. I then answered your questions even though it’s likely a waste of time.


-21

!! WOW !! A CAO making $25,000 a month + free car and medical and when the average worker wants a raise to cover the inflation they don’t want to give them one. What does a CAO do that requires them to be paid this crazy amount ?


51

There is always a premium for temporary gigs, especially for roles that have few qualified people. In this case, there was a short time to fill due to the unexpected departure and a larger scale search and recruitment will take place for the permanent replacement. Also, $475 is a lot less than car payment, maintenance and gas and everyone in government get’s healthcare benefits.


-34

To answer your question: to oversee and manage the day to day operations of a multi-billion dollar organization with almost 3,000 employees. Certainly not a job for an average worker, but the executive of a massive company. If you think that’s a high salary, you should look at what the private sector equivalents make (tens of millions). So I don’t see the point in complaining unless you’re a revolutionary socialist who believes in maximum wages, in which case at least you’re honest.


-37

Private sector uses money earned by the voluntary exchange of goods or services. Poor goods or services, will result in less and less monies earned.


Public servants and employees, are paid by money taken from citizens. With an involuntary collection of monies, services provided are not required to be equitable.


I’m not sure you see the difference


23

Public sector employees don’t make as much as their private sector equivalents. As I noted the CEO of a company as large as the County government would take home tens of millions of dollars in compensation – not 200,000. That’s a good thing of course, neither of us want civil servants making millions of dollars. But at the same time you can’t pay someone with that kind of experience and responsibilities as much as a simple secretary. If you pay the public sector in bread and water, you’ll get what you pay for.


0

And, if the CEO fails to deliver a product or service that results in profit which causes the service or production to end, the “bread and water” public servant will be living better.


The public servant is offered a position at such and such compensation, paid by taxes. It is up to the public servant whether they want to work or not. The compensation should not be so great, to overwhelm the tax base.


The CEO offers their goods to the public, it is up to the public whether they want to accept the service or product. The CEO will keep his job ONLY if the public approves of their service or product.


This is not difficult, yet you think it is.


-2

I don’t quite understand your first paragraph. How does the failure of County leadership help public sector employees?


Obviously compensation should not be so high it’s unaffordable, but also it can’t be so low that you make it so good employees move to other counties for higher paying jobs, leaving only the ones with locked in benifits or who those who find illegitimate sources of income. (Underpaying the civil service is what drives corruption in most developing countries – commitment to the public good doesn’t mean much if you can’t make ends meet).


Lastly – don’t forget we live in a democracy, we all elect the Board who appoints the County Administrator. If the public doesn’t like the product they will replace the board at the ballot box or demand their representatives replace the CAO, just like any private CEO. If anything the public sector executive position is subject to the whims of politicians rather than the earnings report.


-2
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