MENDOCINO CO., 6/26/26 — The Mendocino Board of Supervisors are reaching month five of its search for a new Mendocino County chief executive officer. The recruitment process began soon after the current CEO, Darcie Antle, announced her intention to retire in July. She has been CEO of Mendocino County since 2022.
Antle’s main responsibility is to oversee the county’s budget in an effort to fulfill policy and funding decisions made by the Board of Supervisors. In her January retirement announcement, she listed her accomplishments in this role, including securing funding for the behavioral health wing at the Mendocino County Jail, developing a grants division, and updating the county’s financial system.
Her term was also marked with management challenges, such as navigating the county through COVID and undergoing several financial audits. The audits found that Mendocino County had persistent budget deficits and insufficient spending oversight.
Antle acknowledged these audits in her speech, noting that they “helped identify areas of improvement.”
She also pointed out that financial transparency is an area of improvement for the county, saying “we got a long way to go on that.”
These financial challenges will be inherited by her replacement.
In February, shortly after Antle announced her decision to retire on January 14, the board posted job listings across multiple online job boards, along with a recruitment brochure. Some of the qualities the brochure calls for in a candidate include experience in public management, exceptional communication skills, and a “sense of humor.” The board also hired an executive recruiter to aid with the search.
So far, they have been unable to find a right fit. After reviewing the top 45 applicants, and interviewing five, the board decided to seek a new round of candidates.
Finding a qualified person who is looking to work for a smaller, more rural county, has proved challenging.
“It’s often a position that people are either stepping down from a busier county or agency, or they’re looking to grow and get experience, so it’s just, in general, I think, a unique position to find,” said District 2 Supervisor Maureen Mulheren.
Mulheren also mentioned that pay has limited the candidate pool.
A Mendocino County CEO stands to make less money than those in similar positions in other California counties. In 2025, Darce Antle’s salary was listed at $266,134. This is less than the neighboring county of Humboldt, whose county administrative officer made $281,759 in 2024. A more dramatic difference can be seen if Mendocino is compared to Alameda County, whose county administrator made $693,433 in 2025.
In May, the second call for CEO commenced, with applications closing June 30.
Supervisor Mulheren ranked transparency and communication skills as top of her list of important characteristics for a candidate. Her emphasis on transparency echoes the issues pointed out by Antle.
“I am interested in making sure that we find somebody that wants to lead the county forward and is a good communicator, transparent, I think that’s really important. And I want to continue looking until we find that person,” Mulheren said.
On Tuesday, the board of supervisors voted for Sara Pierce to serve as interim CEO while its search extends. Pierce had previously served as acting Auditor–Controller/Treasurer–Tax Collector during Chamise Cubbison’s 17-month absence, from October 2023 to February 2025.
Pierce might hold the position for up to six months, as it is not unusual for the executive hiring process to stretch on for a large chunk of the year. According to Korn Ferry, a major California consulting firm, the search for a CEO at a private corporation commonly takes four to six months. On top of this, the government tends to be slower to hire than the private sector, meaning Mendocino County might not get a new CEO until the end of 2026.
which dipshits put this idiot in the ceo spot?
266k year?
to run the county into the ground
between her and the late great carmella angelo, these clowns have cost millions in salary amd benfits while the county circles the drain
and everyone who works for a living in the county gets kicked
lied to and yes this is abuse of the people
the county is insolvent
its about to go BK
all the county workers will end up loosing thier pensions because there is t money to keep them funded
and at the very end the county will decide to either
pay pensions of past enployees or its current payroll etc
and then as property taxes go uncollected other values go down and then the county will have to adjust tax down because they will be over assessed meaning even less money
to all the boomers who have milked it here or moved to retire:
enjoy your golden years surrounded by poverty, sinking home values, good luck selling your house,
your nearest healthcare is hours away
mendo is a legit embaressment
hurry up and fail so the rest of us can get on with life
The vast majority of 60+ people I have known and spoken to in the last few years have, without exception, made it clear that they couldn’t care less what happens after they go. These are PARENTS and their own egos are so blown up that they sincerely can’t fathom planting a tree if they won’t be alive to see it. They had kids, set the world on fire, and blamed their children for it. You can be damn certain they will enjoy their last years without a care in world for anyone but themselves. I can’t wait until they’re gone.
The bureaucracy is a sophisticated welfare system where participants draw outrageous salaries, and benefits, for their efforts in the art of pretending to work.
It’s easy to give a CEO that $500k a year job that forces them to be in office 8hrs a day 5 days a week when you slash 5 executive employees income in half, they gave themselves a raise to $110k a while back and with benefits they make $100k less than the secretary they chose to have and yet they get to frolic most days while that poor CEO grinds away. So comparing Mendocino to Alameda is a joke Humboldt,Glenn,or maybe Shasta would be an appropriate comparison or have our expectations burst the seams of the blue jeans this county wears hoping to get that Tom Ford or Versace crowd to look pretty at every meeting. So here’s waiting for Tom Allman to become the next CEO with Sheriff’s experience in 2 counties, Real Estate Sales , and Mayoral experience in Willits, it could get better though if Katie Porter sees $300k a year and wants a new used Minivan from social services thrown in at signing.
Let us pray the county finds a genius to hire who is willing to work in the backwoods Ukiah (compared to the counties south of here) and do so for pay that is humbling in comparison to the wealthy CEO of $100milion a year revenue companies. Plus take all the heat and sassy comments from such a public.
sounds like you’re the guy for the job
Why are the comments so rude and disparaging? I am also not happy with the leadership in our County, or the combining of Behavioral Health and Public Health. But these are not comments, it is just name calling and with no possible solutions offered. Most people living here do not have retirement from this County, so why the negative comments about older citizen who bought homes when they cost 25% of what they do now?
Very depressing to read these comments.
Jesus! How much do they make?! Then there’s the paid vacations and the pension, other benefits, etc. While they destroy the working people of the county. Yes- I am talking about the supervisors also.
The picture of the smiling CEO pretty much says it all. The difference between the overpaid arrogant county upper management and the working county employees is horrible.
The CEO office has been responsible for the loss of several good people.
The prospect of the county hiring a CEO that truly cares about.. Mendocino
county is a hope for many.