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In an effort to clarify the duties and authority of San Benito County’s top administrative position, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Oct. 28 to restore education requirements and officially change the title from County Administrative Officer to County Executive Officer.
County Counsel Gregory Priamos said amending the county code was necessary because the current one lacks specificity about the CAO’s duties and their working relationship with elected officials such as the district attorney, the auditor-controller and the clerk-recorder-registrar of voters.
“There is very little clarity and detail as to the role of the county administrative officer,” Priamos said. “There is a very bare-bones description of what the CAO’s role and responsibilities are. It does not specifically address the three primary powers, duties and functions of the CAO, which are budget, administration and personnel.”
All five supervisors agreed that the modification was needed, and Supervisors Mindy Sotelo and Angela Curro argued that current CAO Esperanza Colio Warren is for all practical purposes doing the work of a CEO.
“I believe that we have called it a CAO for a long time in this county,” Sotelo said. “But really, the department heads are reporting to and they are being hired and fired by the CAO. So, we called it a CAO, but for many years we’ve been operating as a CEO model anyways.”
The section of the county code defining the CAO’s powers and duties was written nearly 60 years ago and has remained largely unchanged since. The only amendment made, Priamos told the board, was in 2013 when the board removed the requirement for a bachelor’s degree to allow former CAO Ray Espinosa to be selected. He added that counties in California are “virtually universal” in requiring at least a college degree for the position.
After leading the county for over a decade, Espinosa went on medical leave in May 2024 and later announced his retirement. That fall, after a series of meetings and closed-door discussions, the board reluctantly appointed him as senior executive adviser, a role he holds until April 2026.
At the Oct. 28 meeting, the board also approved reinstating the requirement of at least a bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration or a related field, with a preference for a master’s degree in any of those fields.
Future candidates will also be required to have experience in municipal finance.
Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki argued that many positions throughout the county already require, at a minimum, a college degree. So, he said, there should also be a requirement for the county’s top official.
“Otherwise, let’s scrap the whole thing,” he said. “If we’re not going to require a college degree for our CEO, then we shouldn’t be requiring a college degree for any other positions.”
To continue clarifying roles and responsibilities within county government, the supervisors also reviewed a proposed update to the county’s organizational chart. Created in 2018, the existing chart does not accurately reflect the county’s structure, according to Colio Warren.
A revised organizational chart is expected to be presented and approved at the board’s Nov. 4 meeting.
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