MENDOCINO CO., 10/21/26 — Board of Supervisors Chair Bernie Norvell swore in Mendocino County’s new chief executive officer and its new top lawyer together Tuesday, a few minutes after the board voted 5-0 to hire each of them.
Sara Pierce, interim CEO since June, gets a three-year contract at $275,000 a year, or an estimated $481,000 with benefits, according to the agenda. Her term started Tuesday and runs through Oct. 20, 2029. The board set her interim pay at $202,716.80 a year in June.
Michael Rossi, a lead deputy county counsel in Santa Clara County, becomes county counsel at $271,000 a year, or an estimated $460,700 with benefits. His four-year contract starts Dec. 6 and waives the county’s residency requirement.
Norvell sponsored both items. He used the CEO vote to answer a question he said he’d been getting since the agenda came out.
Norvell said he’d heard talk about town, including at a community meeting that he and Supervisor Madeline Cline attended Monday that “we’re hiring Ms. Pierce because we’ve run out of options. From my opinion, that is not the case.”
He said he had considered Pierce a candidate since the county opened the search. Most of the people who applied did not meet the minimum requirements, Norvell said. Pierce had asked for time to make a decision to put herself forward, and the board gave it to her, he said. At the board’s last meeting, she asked to present herself as a candidate.
Two searches
The county ran two searches before Pierce stepped forward. At the board’s Sept. 1 meeting, Human Resources Director Cherie Johnson said a search run by an executive recruiter drew 45 applicants by April 7. The board interviewed three of them on April 21 and hired none, she said. A second search, run by county staff since May 21, had drawn about 45 more. None had been picked for an interview.
That day, the board voted 3-2 to advertise the job at $250,000 to $300,000 a year. Supervisors John Haschak and Ted Williams voted no. Supervisor Maureen Mulheren said then that Pierce had made it clear she didn’t intend to stay in the job.
The vote
Cline said every staff member she had talked to was “beyond excited that you’re up for this challenge,” speaking of Pierce.
Williams, who ran the meeting while Norvell’s items were up, said Pierce is “the least political person in the room,” and that out of all the candidates the board interviewed, “she’s by far the most qualified.”
The one public comment came from John Risk of Meadow Farm, who had spoken earlier in the meeting on a housing amnesty. He thanked Pierce, then asked the board to keep pay in check. The county’s median income is $68,000 a year, he said, citing the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We have a public that does not get these salaries,” Risk said. He asked, “Can you sustain these salaries through retirement?”
After the vote, Pierce said she would draw on her county work and on relationships she has built in healthcare and agriculture.
“The county can only move forward if we work together,” she said. Of Mendocino County, she said, “It is a special place to me as my family has been here for over a century.”
County Counsel
Rossi came to Ukiah for the vote and to be sworn in. “It is an honor to serve as the county’s next county counsel,” he told the board, thanking supervisors on behalf of himself and his wife, Shannon.
Norvell said Rossi has nearly 30 years of legal experience and has worked for Santa Clara County since 1996, as lead deputy counsel since January 2016. His experience includes civil litigation, environmental protection, labor and employment law and public health, Norvell said.
“And I may point out code enforcement is also in his wheelhouse,” Norvell said.
Cline moved to approve the contract. Haschak said the county would benefit from Rossi’s experience.
The job has turned over three times since January 2024, twice with interims. Charlotte Scott held it permanently until Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her a Mendocino County Superior Court judge in October 2025. Katharine L. Elliott has been interim county counsel since January, under a contract that runs through Dec. 31.
When the county advertised the job in May, the posting said the last county counsel made $200,000.
Rossi starts Dec. 6.