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Board approves voluntary severance program to right-size county workforce
Summary
Mariposa County adopted a voluntary severance program intended to reduce staffing toward historical levels; program has an application window and a seven-day revocation period and may be used by some employees as a retirement pathway.
The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a voluntary severance program (VSP) on June 16 designed to reduce the county workforce toward historic staffing levels and free funds for capital and operational priorities.
Assistant CAO Lee Westerlund presented the program as a targeted tool to help "right-size" county allocations after the county's workforce expanded since 2020. Westerlund emphasized the effort is voluntary and not a mandatory layoff plan and clarified the program is not the CalPERS "golden handshake" retirement augmentation.
Westerlund said applications may be submitted between June 22 and August 6 and noted a seven-day revocation period after submission. He clarified that formal, written notice of intent to retire filed with HR (an ECS/employee change status form) would be treated as an eligible retirement notification for the purposes of the program. The auditors' office offered to meet with staff considering retirement to coordinate CalPERS timing.
CAO Joe Lynch and the assistant CAO said the program requires up-front payouts and that long-term savings depend entirely on participant choices and whether positions are eliminated or restructured. Lynch cited the county’s increase in headcount since 2020 (from roughly 450 to about 511 employees) as a driver for the initiative.
Several public commenters, including current and former department heads, cautioned that past severance efforts removed institutional knowledge and sometimes required hiring more staff to cover lost experience. The board acknowledged those concerns but voted 5-0 to approve the program.
The VSP will be administered by HR; staff said they will provide detailed documents and timelines and that individual auditors will be available to help employees evaluate retirement timing and CalPERS effects.
The board’s motion authorizes staff to implement the VSP as presented with minor clerical corrections to contact details.
