Sachi Hamai was formally sworn in Thursday as Los Angeles County’s CEO.
Hamai had been acting CEO since December, when the board abruptly withdrew the appointment of Brence Culp, who had stepped up to temporarily replace retiring CEO William Fujioka. At the time, Supervisor Michael Antonovich said the interim role would give Culp an unfair advantage over other candidates interested in the job and called for a policy change that would “ensure a level playing field.” The proposed policy change was never instituted.
In a letter dated Sept. 30, the county’s lead attorney, acting executive officer and human resources director formally responded to Antonovich’s original request, telling the board it had “wide discretion” in appointing officers and department heads.
The letter suggested that the “organization should leave its options open when determining whether an interim/acting executive can be appointed to the permanent position,” though it also noted that outsiders might be deterred from competing for a job with an insider in place.
As interim CEO, Hamai presided over an overhaul of the CEO’s office, eliminating a layer of middle managers and reassigning executives to policy- centric positions. The reorganization was intended to create a more direct flow of communication between department heads and the board.
Hamai will still manage performance reviews for department heads and, as CEO, also has responsibility for drafting the county’s $27 billion budget.
Citing the size of that budget and the services provided by the CEO, Antonovich defended her $355,000 annual salary.
Antonovich said a comparable position in Alameda County pays roughly $450,000 and said the board also looked at the “extremely high” salary of the (L.A. city) Department of Water and Power’s general manager before agreeing to Hamai’s compensation.
Hamai had been the board’s executive officer since 2006, managing the agenda for weekly meetings and providing administrative support to the board and various county departments.
Prior to that, she worked for nearly two decades in various county agencies, including the departments of Auditor-Controller and Health Services.
— Wire reports