Twice in the past two years, an elected San Diego County supervisor has unexpectedly resigned, leaving residents and business owners without representation and the politically divided board hamstrung on key issues with one of its five seats vacant.
To better prepare for the next surprise departure, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to revise county policies to allow the clerk of the board to appoint a day-to-day administrator for district offices left vacant by sudden departures.
The political appointee would be granted official oversight over the district office, making personnel decisions and providing updates to the remaining supervisors about activities and services within the district.
The administrator also would be responsible for transitioning the district through elected leaders, shepherding the completion of audits and other business.
“To ensure responsiveness to the needs of district residents, staff assignments and roles may be adjusted as necessary,” the new rules say. “District staff may continue in their positions until their services are no longer needed or until a new supervisor has been elected.”
The policy change came on a unanimous vote, with elected officials saying the upgrade would better serve people who live and work in districts whose representatives quit in the middle of their terms.
“All we are doing is codifying things so that when people call my office I can show them this is how we do it,” Supervisor Jim Desmond said just ahead of the 4-0 vote.
Voters in District 1 have been lacking representation since Nora Vargas walked away from her second term weeks after winning reelection late last year. Vargas cited personal safety and security reasons for leaving but provided no details.
A special election is scheduled for April 8, with a runoff ballot to be held in July if no candidate receives at least 50 percent support. Early voting in the special election began this week.
The winner would be sworn in later this summer. By that time, however, the more than 600,000 people in District 1 will have been unrepresented on the county Board of Supervisors for at least seven months.
Voters in District 4 experienced a similar quandary in 2023, when former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher resigned abruptly after being accused of sexual misconduct.
Former San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe won the special election to replace him but was not seated as a county supervisor until December 2023 — almost nine months after Fletcher attended his last board meeting.
The board Tuesday also updated the rules over how supervisors name their officers — the chair, vice chair and chair pro tempore.
The seats, which traditionally have been filled in January but have been delayed as a result of Vargas’ decision to resign, will now be named per calendar year, and the positions can be replaced by a majority vote of the board.
“It’s much better to have an official policy that makes sure everyone is treated equally and the same,” said Terra Lawson-Remer, the District 3 representative who is now serving as the acting board chair. “This is the right approach moving forward.”
The Board of Supervisors is responsible for a broad range of local government services for unincorporated areas of San Diego County.
Supervisors manage a budget that this year exceeds $8.5 billion — money that pays for everything from libraries and land-use planning to law enforcement and public health.
