Berardino to County: John Williams is the problem

Union head slams county’s public guardian rescue plan (OC Reg; Watchdog)

     A plan by the county’s CEO to hire a new executive manager to step in and overhaul the culture and the personnel at the beleaguered Public Administrator/Public Guardian was blasted by the county’s employee union boss as insufficient and wasteful of taxpayer dollars.
     Oversight and new management are needed to immediately make personnel and policy changes as a result of issues raised repeatedly by the Orange County grand jury and the county’s own investigation into how the agency does business, county Chief Executive Officer Tom Mauk says.
     But Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams is already being paid $153,206.40 a year to head the office – and Williams, who is elected public administrator and appointed public guardian, has been repeatedly warned he needs to make significant changes to his agency.

The problem

     “The last thing the county needs is another executive with an extravagant salary and obscene perks,” said Nick Berardino, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association. “Adding another executive is not going to solve the problem.”
     The problem, Berardino said, is Williams himself. Adding another layer of bureaucracy isn’t going to fix that, he said.

     Williams’ private attorney Phil Greer, declined to comment….