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Ethics Commission begins search planning after Executive Director St. Croix resigns
Summary
Executive Director John St. Croix submitted his resignation effective in late August; the Commission appointed an ad-hoc committee with DHR to plan recruitment and weighed hiring an outside executive search firm (partial service $15k-$20k; full service $30k-$40k).
The San Francisco Ethics Commission opened planning for an executive recruitment after Executive Director John St. Croix tendered his resignation, with an anticipated departure late this summer. Brent Lewis of the Department of Human Resources briefed commissioners on options for an external executive recruiter and recommended creating a small ad-hoc committee to work with DHR.
DHR options and costs: Lewis described a two-tier model: a partial engagement (roughly $15,000—$20,000) in which a recruiter prepares outreach materials and does initial screening and a full recruitment (roughly $30,000—$40,000) that includes nationwide outreach, detailed vetting, finalist briefings and background checks. Commissioners debated the tradeoff between cost and depth of candidate vetting; Commissioner Keane argued for investing in a thorough national search for such an important position.
Next steps: Chair Rennie appointed himself and Brent Lewis as an ad-hoc committee to work with DHR and to explore supplemental funding options (including possible salary-savings reallocation) to cover recruiting costs. Commissioners also asked staff to solicit public input on job priorities and to prepare a timeline; DHR estimated a typical executive search takes three to six months.
Why it matters: The executive director role is central to enforcement and transparency work at the Ethics Commission; commissioners emphasized the need for broad public input on job description, and careful record-keeping during the search.
What the Commission did: No hiring decision was made that night; the Commission approved forming a committee, directed staff to prepare a public-input timeline and signaled intent to pursue at least modest recruiting support pending budget review.
