When the Riverside County Board of Supervisors resumes business two weeks from Tuesday, the top priority will be seating a new chair and vice chair, currently slated to be Supervisors Karen Spiegel and Yxstian Gutierrez, respectively.
The last time Spiegel, who represents the Second District, held the center seat on the board was 2021. Gutierrez, who began his first term representing the Fifth District in January 2023, has never served in a leadership capacity in county government, with the exception of committees.
The chair and vice chair appointments require affirmation by majority vote. The only time in the current century when a county board chairperson failed to receive appointment by unanimous consent occurred in January 2022, when Supervisors Manuel Perez and Chuck Washington abstained from backing then-Supervisor Jeff Hewitt. He was appointed anyway, following votes of support by Spiegel and then-Supervisor Kevin Jeffries — as well as Hewitt’s own vote.
At the time, Perez, who served as chair in 2025, and Washington both publicly backed fellow Democrat Gutierrez in his ultimately successful bid to unseat Hewitt.
For 2026, Spiegel is next in line to take the helm. Each supervisor is given an opportunity to rotate into the chair, which is a one-year term. The line of succession is based only on whichever district supervisor is slated for a turn.
The chair oversees establishing board schedules, guiding hearings, attending functions on behalf of the entire board, signing proclamations and other ceremonial duties that don’t require a quorum. The vice chair takes the gavel whenever the chair is absent.
The individual assuming the position customarily announces at the beginning of his or her term what priorities should be on the agenda for the year. However, agencies often drive the direction of the board’s business by way of requests for funding and policy changes.
One of Perez’s priorities at the start of 2025 was to give voice to concerns about the Trump administration’s position on immigration enforcement.
When Spiegel last took the top spot in 2021, the COVID lockdowns remained prevalent, and one of her announced aims was to help steer the county toward a gradual end to the disruptions in daily life, stating “we need to get businesses open. We need to get people back to work. We need to get children back in school.”
She hasn’t signaled what her preferences are for 2026’s agenda.
Both she and Gutierrez will likely address their objectives during the board’s first meeting on Jan. 13.
The county’s midyear 2025-26 budget report, set for release toward the end of February, will likely be a gadfly to debate about priorities.