Board approves reorganization of County Executive office, adds four deputy posts

Marin County supervisors voted May 19 to authorize a reorganization of the Office of the County Executive that groups department oversight under four assistant/deputy county executive seats and adds staff aimed at improving coordination, communications and delivery of priority programs.

The board approved a resolution authorizing the county executive to implement the leadership structure, which the county executive and outside consultants said will align departments into functional clusters (operations and administrative services; health and human services; justice and welfare; and community and environmental services). The plan includes several new positions and an estimated net ongoing cost of roughly $2.5 million.

Supporters said the change responds to increased complexity in county work and will shorten decision chains. “This structure really aligns the organization with the core priorities for the Board of Supervisors,” County Executive Derek Johnson told the board, adding the reorganization was the product of months of internal interviews and benchmarking by two consulting firms. Anne Edwards, a former county executive who advised the county, said other California counties use similar assistant-executive roles to give department heads more executive access and to speed decisions. “When you have assistants working with department heads…and each other very closely, you can achieve strategic leadership for groups and departments,” she said.

Board members said they supported giving the county executive additional tools to manage 22 departments and cited the need for faster cross‑department collaboration on housing, disaster response and social services. Several supervisors also asked for quarterly or semiannual performance measures tied to the reorganization so the board can track whether the stated goals are achieved.

Opponents and labor representatives urged caution and said the administration should follow meet-and-confer rules before moving represented positions. Representatives for the Marin County Municipal Employees Association asked that the board not adopt actions that change bargaining-unit positions without formally negotiating impacts; county counsel and the county clerk confirmed the board can approve the budgetary restructuring now but that formal meet-and-confer on any affected represented positions would follow before personnel changes are finalized.

The vote was unanimous. Supervisors who spoke in favor said they want the county executive to report back with measurable performance indicators and that the county will continue to consult labor and departments as the new structure is implemented.