The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has already given the public a glimpse of how Nora Vargas’ departure could impact county business, after the remaining members — two Democrats and two Republicans — failed to elect new officers at their first meeting of the year Tuesday.
The board was slated to elect new officers, including chair, vice chair and chair pro tem. But after Vargas’ surprise announcement last month that she would not serve the second term she’d just been elected to, the board’s new vacancy posed its first challenge, with supervisors divided along partisan lines.
Because supervisors could not come to an agreement, the existing officers will remain in their positions. They will try again to elect new officers at their next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Jan. 28.
Until then, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer will remain vice chair, and Supervisor Joel Anderson will remain chair pro tem. With Vargas’ chair position empty, Lawson-Remer will preside as chair and Anderson as vice chair until their successors have been chosen.
Before Vargas left, Lawson-Remer was seen as her likely successor as chair, a post Vargas held for two years.
But the board quickly devolved into disagreement Tuesday as supervisors nominated themselves for the officer positions.
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe called for Lawson-Remer to be elected chair and herself vice chair.
Meanwhile Supervisor Jim Desmond nominated himself for chair, noting that he is the longest-serving member and that his district has held neither the chair nor vice chair positions for most of that time.
Supervisors voted first on Desmond’s motion to be elected chair and deadlocked 2-2 along party lines. Then they once again failed to elect Lawson-Remer chair, in a 2-1 vote with Desmond the lone no vote and Anderson abstaining.
More than a dozen people spoke during public comment, most urging the county to elect new officers — although they diverged on whom.
Crystal Irving, president of SEIU 221, called it “imperative that the work of the county continues, even in the face of unpredictability,” and said she supported Lawson-Remer for chair and Montgomery Steppe for vice chair.
Another speaker, Becky Rapp, called Tuesday’s vote an opportunity for a “fresh start” and suggested Desmond.
Lawson-Remer met with the San Diego Union-Tribune ahead of Tuesday’s meeting to discuss her top priorities for the new year, which included improving healthcare access — including for mental and behavioral health — and housing affordability, among other issues.
“We’ve made a lot of strides, but we’ve still got a long way to go on on those issues,” she said.
That includes building out treatment capacity for substance use and mental health, paying health workers fairly and protecting Medicaid benefits, which provide care for almost a third of county residents, she added.
To protect housing, Lawson-Remer wants to preserve what’s known as naturally occurring affordable housing, change zoning to create more homes affordable to first-time buyers and pursue litigation against major landlords like private equity giant Blackstone that she says are inflating housing costs by buying up properties in the region.
Although Tuesday’s gridlock could point to future impasses the board could face while short a supervisor, Lawson-Remer was not concerned about its effect on county business.
Most of the county’s pressing issues, she said, are bipartisan.
“I think the core work we’re doing as a county — on mental health care, substance (use) disorder treatment, tackling our housing crisis, clean water and the Tijuana sewage crisis — is going to continue moving ahead,” she said. “And I don’t think that’s going to slow down.”
But she acknowledged that issues like immigration policy could pose challenges.
“If the federal government decides to come after San Diego, we’re not going to be able to be as nimble as I would have hoped,” she said. “It’ll be harder to be responsive.”
The board will meet next Tuesday to decide next steps to fill the District 1 vacancy, whether by appointment, special election or both.
Its agenda lays out the possible timelines: An expedited schedule for appointment applications could let the board seat a new supervisor by early February. A special election would be held in April, with a possible runoff in July.
But until a new supervisor is chosen, supervisors will keep conducting county business with an even partisan split.
Originally Published:
