Quick Take
As Carlos Palacios steps down from his post as Santa Cruz County's executive officer, a national search will begin for his replacement.
Although the news seemed abrupt on Thursday that Carlos Palacios, Santa Cruz County’s top government executive, was retiring after nearly a decade at the helm, it didn’t surprise local lawmakers or officials.
“There’s been rumblings since before I even got on the board,” Felipe Hernandez, chair of the county board of supervisors who was elected in 2022, told Lookout. “I heard something like that was going to happen. He’s been in local government for quite a while.”
District 5 Supervisor Monica Martinez, sworn in in January, said she expected Palacios would retire at some point during her first term, as she “saw him putting a strong team in place, and systems, with the anticipation” that he would soon step down. “I was just wondering when that time might be,” she said.
Although he was caught off-guard by the news Thursday morning, Supervisor Justin Cummings (D3) said the board of supervisors and county officials have been talking about “succession planning” for years. Now, all of that alleged planning and expectation will materialize as the board of supervisors figures out how it will execute the single most important hire it is tasked with making.
Palacios has two assistant CEOs beneath him — Nicole Coburn and Elissa Benson. However, each of the supervisors who spoke with Lookout on Thursday — all but Supervisor Manu Koenig (D1) — supported conducting a national search for Palacios’ replacement, despite any “succession planning” that might have taken place.
“It’s important to look broadly and open up the search and see who presents themselves,” Martinez said. “We owe it to the county to find the best candidate possible, and that will mean a broad search.”
The search, however, will come at a challenging time.
Palacios’ marks the latest, and by far most significant, executive-level departure in county government over the past six months. Since the start of the year, the county has lost, to either retirement or relocation, its department directors of the Health Services Agency, General Services Department and its Probation Department. Former auditor-controller Edith Driscoll stepped down in May, less than six months into her third elected four-year term. The county also recently lost, and replaced, its behavioral health division director.
And, stretching back to last summer, the supervisors had to appoint a new sheriff after former sheriff Jim Hart retired following 10 years as the county’s top cop and 36 total years with the force.
The bureaucratic leadership changes have come among political ones as well. The board of supervisors, which just three years ago was an all-white, all-male panel with decades of experience, is now a diverse mix of genders and races, and four of the five supervisors are in their first term. Supervisor Koenig, six months into his second term, is the most tenured elected county lawmaker.
Cummings said although this “generational shift” might be a good thing, the timing couldn’t be worse as the county navigates some of its most challenging economic times in recent memory.
“It’s a little unsettling because if the federal cuts go through it’s going to be a big disruption, and it would be good to have people with experience be here while we’re trying to navigate it,” Cummings said. “But also, if we have a new generation come in and figure out how to manage this then we can probably manage anything.”
Hernandez told Lookout that conversations around the national search will begin Tuesday.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.