Update:
Interim Riverside County Executive Officer David “Larry” Parrish will stay on the job for another five months under a contract approved today by the Board of Supervisors.
The county intends to keep Parrish in the CEO position through May 16.
The 71-year-old Rancho Mirage resident has served as acting CEO — without pay — since Sept. 27, when Bill Luna announced his resignation after three years in the job.
Parrish served as the county executive officer for 16 years before retiring in the summer of 2008. He received a warm welcome back from the board, with Vice Chairman John Tavaglione expressing confidence that he would “help us through” tough financial challenges ahead.
The county is facing an $80 million budget shortfall and the prospect of laying off several hundred employees to balance the books.
Parrish noted then that he was happy to be a “softening agent” for whatever policy decisions had to be made, but said he did not come equipped with a “magic bullet” to end the county’s fiscal crisis.
Under the contract, which the board approved 3-0, with Supervisors Marion Ashley and Jeff Stone absent, Parrish will earn $15,000 a month and continue to have access to an all-expenses-paid Toyota Prius for conducting county business.
His pension, based on years of public sector employment in Riverside, Orange and Ventura counties, is $233,000 a year, according to the California Public Employees Retirement System.
The labor agreement stipulates that Parrish is an at-will employee of the county and can be terminated at any time without cause. Likewise, he can quit at any time, provided he gives the county two weeks notice.
In September, the board retained Beverly Hills-based executive recruiting firm Roberts Consulting Group, at a cost of $30,000, to find prospective candidates qualified to permanently fill the CEO position.
Original story:
The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve today a contract that provides for Interim Riverside County Executive Officer David “Larry” Parrish to stay on the job through mid-May 2012.
The county intends to keep Parrish in the CEO position through May 16, according to a labor agreement on the board’s final agenda for 2011.
The 71-year-old Rancho Mirage resident has served as acting CEO since Sept. 27, when Bill Luna announced his resignation after three years in the job.
Parrish served as the county executive officer for 16 years before retiring in the summer of 2008. He received a warm welcome back from the board, with Vice Chairman John Tavaglione expressing confidence that he would “help us through” tough financial challenges ahead.
The county is facing an $80 million budget shortfall and the prospect of laying off several hundred employees to balance the books.
Parrish noted then that he was happy to be a “softening agent” for whatever policy decisions had to be made, but said he did not come equipped with a “magic bullet” to end the county’s fiscal crisis.
Under the contract, Parrish, who agreed to work from Sept. 27 to Dec. 27 without pay, will earn $15,000 a month and continue to have access to an all-expenses-paid Toyota Prius for conducting county business.
His pension, based on years of public sector employment in Riverside, Orange and Ventura counties, is $233,000 a year, according to the California Public Employees Retirement System.
The labor agreement stipulates that Parrish is an at-will employee of the county and can be terminated at any time without cause.
Likewise, he can quit at any time, provided he gives the county two weeks notice.
In September, the county retained Beverly Hills-based executive recruiting firm Roberts Consulting Group, at a cost of $30,000, to find prospective candidates qualified to permanently fill the CEO position.
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I’m afraid I don’t understand why it’s necessary to pay headhunters, in this day and age of the Internet.
I mean, before the Net, I can understand–but now, it’s so easy to get information and make contacts, and there are zillions of resumes and sites online and job sites that organize things as well for a lot less than thirty grand!
Right?!! I don’t pay taxes in Riverside County, but if I did, I’d be feeling pretty weird about all this cash being paid out while teachers are being fired and public safety employees are struggling and, not the least of it, six thousand county employees are getting surprise pension cuts for Christmas this year.