Supervisors vote to reconsider appointments after criticism

A split San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 3-2 to reconsider whether Supervisors Frank Mecham and Adam Hill should remain as chairman and vice chairman of the board.

No date was set for the rehearing, but Dan Buckshi, county administrator, said it could happen as early as Jan. 27.

On Jan. 5 during a special meeting, supervisors approved naming Mecham chairman and Hill vice chairman for 2015. With Hill and Supervisor Bruce Gibson dissenting, the board voted Tuesday to schedule another hearing to discuss the reorganization of the board’s leadership.

The decision stemmed from the fact that supervisors did not take public comment during the Jan. 5 meeting, prompting Los Osos activist and frequent Board of Supervisors critic Julie Tacker to submit a cease-and-desist letter charging that the lack of public comment was a violation of the state’s open-meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Gibson, who was chairman at the time, and Mecham apologized for the oversight and made an addendum to Tuesday’s meeting agenda giving the public an opportunity to comment on the leadership change. More than a dozen people called for the supervisors to rehear the leadership appointments.

No one criticized the appointment of Mecham as chairman, but many criticized Hill’s appointment as vice chair. They said Supervisor Debbie Arnold should have been named vice chair because she has not had a chance to be chair.

Supervisors also voted unanimously to schedule a hearing to discuss procedures for choosing board officers. Buckshi said he will try to schedule both hearings for the same time.

This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Supervisors vote to reconsider appointments after criticism."