New Public Guardian

Re former SOCCCD trustee John Williams (who left us whilst treated to cake and encomium):

New Public Guardian in town (Total Buzz; Kimberly Edds)

Damage control

     Bill Mahoney, a retired deputy chief executive for the county, has been hired back to help revamp the struggling Public Guardian and Public Administrator departments.
     The hire is the latest in a string of moves by the county to wrest control of the departments from Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams who has spent the last four years under increasing criticism for the way he conducts business.
     Mahoney – who is an attorney with probate experience – starts Monday.
     Williams, who is both the elected public administrator and appointed public guardian, has been hounded by accusations of mismanagement, dubious promotions and questions about how he handles the affairs of Orange County’s ill and elderly who have no one else to care for them and the estates of those who die without legal heirs.
     He has ignored repeated calls by the Board of Supervisors to resign.
     The county can do little to interfere with an elected official – but Public Guardian is an appointed position. With Mahoney in place, Williams will not be allowed to do anything except sign his name on official court documents as the Public Guardian. Everything else – from hiring and firing personnel, overseeing the day-to-day operations, making budget decisions, and overhauling the troubled agency’s culture – will be handed to Mahoney.
     The county is still looking for a permanent executive manager to completely overhaul the culture of the troubled agency – but finding the right person could take some time. In the meantime, Mahoney will start implementing personnel and policy changes immediately, said Assistant CEO Rob Richardson.
     The shake-up comes in the wake of the county’s own investigation into how the Public Guardian and Public Administrator did business and a claim filed against the county accusing Williams of negligence in the handling of the multi-million dollar estate of TapouT co-founder Charles “Mask” Lewis.

Damage

     Williams has denied any wrongdoing.
     The Board of Supervisors has already voted to break the combined department into two separate agencies, approved a ballot measure which give voters the option to make the public administrator an appointed, not an elected position, and repealed a county ordinance which makes the elected public administrator the ex-officio appointed public guardian. The county spent weeks negotiating with Williams to get him to immediately step down, but those talks stalled.
     Williams submitted a letter of retirement effective Jan. 23, 2012, but there is no guarantee he will retire at that time. Assistant Public Administrator/Public Guardian Peggi Buff has already been removed from her position as a result of the county’s investigation into the department.
     Buff, who has been romantically linked to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, was given a $95,600 a year job to help coordinate county volunteers. The job, which equated to a pay cut and a demotion for Buff, was never publicly posted.
     Williams is paid $153,206.40 a year to head the combined Public Administrator/Public Guardian. Longtime county watchdog Shirley Grindle has argued paying Williams for his public guardian role is an illegal gift of taxpayer funds since Williams is not doing the job he is being paid to do.
     Mahoney’s contract, which is expected to last between two and three months, is not to exceed $48,000, said Richardson.
     The permanent executive manager will be paid between $117,000 and $223,000, depending on the person’s experience, Deputy County Chief Executive Officer Stephen Dunivent said.