Memorandum
Date: July 22, 2025
To: The Honorable Eddie Crandell, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Stephen L. Carter, Jr., Assistant County Administrative Officer
Matthew Rothstein, Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer
Subject: Consideration of a Report from Municipal Resource Group on Your Board's March 21, 2025, Training Workshop on General Governance, Priority Development and Organizational Effectiveness
Executive Summary:
As you are aware, on March 21, 2025, your Board engaged in a training workshop focused on general governance, priority development and organizational effectiveness, hosted by Robert Bendorf of Municipal Resource Group. The intent of this workshop was solely to provide background for your Board toward future policy direction.
No Board action was taken during the March 21, 2025 Training Workshop.
Mr. Bendorf has provided a summary of the discussion, which includes documentation of your Board’s communicated expectations of the role of County Administrative Officer. For clarity, the document collects elements shared during the training workshop, and is not intended to be a comprehensive list. In addition to collecting Supervisor input, Mr. Bendorf shared roles and duties of top County Executives are typically codified in a Local Ordinance. As of this writing, Article I, Section 2-1.7 of the County Code notes the following:
Direction of County operation - the setting of policy - shall be by action of the Board of Supervisors, with implementation through the Department Heads and overview by the County Administrative Coordinator [i.e., County Administrative Officer].
Your Board provided no Direction to staff to develop an Ordinance outlining County Administrator/Executive roles and duties. Administration expects your Board would wish for an inclusive process that engages all County Department Heads to occur prior to presentation of such an Ordinance; effective coordination among all leadership staff is essential to the County organization functioning at its maximum feasible level.
Examples of how Focus Areas contained within your Board’s Vision 2028 Priority Statement (Public Safety; Infrastructure; Workforce and Organizational Excellence; Economic Development; and Budget and Fiscal Stewardship) could be developed into specific Strategic Priorities and Action Items were also developed during the workshop.
To ensure appropriate public understanding, Strategic Priorities and Action Items documented on these supplemental pages do not reflect final decision-making, but rather ideas that could potentially be further developed through intentional Strategic Planning.
Mr. Bendorf’s documents are attached to this Agenda Item, for your Board’s consideration and public inspection.
Staff invites your Board’s discussion and any appropriate Direction. Definition of the County Executive/Administrator role and Strategic Planning and priority setting clearly rest within the authority of your Board, and Administration looks forward to developing any further background members of your Board may need, and supporting action on any next steps in response to the March Workshop and Mr. Bendorf’s documentation.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Purchasing Considerations (check all that apply): ☒ Not applicable
☐ Fully Article X. <https://library.municode.com/ca/lake_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH2AD_ARTXPU_S2-38EXCOBI>- and/or Consultant Selection Policy <http://lcnet.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Intranet/Policy/Policies+$!26+Procedures+Manual/Ch4_2021v2.pdf>-Compliant (describe process undertaken in “Executive Summary”)
☐ Section 2-38 <https://library.municode.com/ca/lake_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH2AD_ARTXPU_S2-38EXCOBI> Exemption from Competitive Bidding (rationale in “Executive Summary,” attach documentation, as needed)
☐ For Technology Purchases: Vetted and Supported by the Technology Governance Committee <http://lcnet.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Intranet/Intranet+Forms/Information+Technology/AdvPlan.pdf> (“Yes,” if checked)
☐ Other (Please describe in Executive Summary)
Consistency with Vision 2028 <http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Directory/Administration/Visioning/Vision2028.htm> (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
☒ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☒ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☒ Economic Development ☒ Infrastructure ☒ County Workforce
☒ Community Collaboration ☒ Business Process Efficiency ☒ Clear Lake
Recommended Action: Direction to staff, as appropriate.