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.
Yeah right the CEO s office did wonders for agriculture.
While $460,700 is a BIG compensation package for our area the board’s search even when offering similar pay ranges, yielded zero suitable candidates indicating the marketplace has spoken.
I appreciate the transparency and I only wish City of Ukiah was as open. I had several Public Records Requests seeking similar data in to the City and received incomplete and inaccurate information.
plent of suitable candidates ross
they just dont want to work for a failed state:
besides after this gig is an easy way to get the next one
I am not so sure about these choices.
This is the real Laura Bianchi Limbird. This was NOT NOT NOT my comment and does not represent my opinion. Please take it down!!!!!
Can you provide the IP address from which this comment was posted? It was not me.
well
they made an exemption so buddy boy could work remote
i think from marin?
county counsel wont even live in mendo
many other very high level folks
cant and wont live in mendocino county becoase its sooooo
fucked up
i know some personally
who ive met through barious random interactions in the business world in sonoma and marin
solution:
bk the county govt
fire every employee in mendo
rehire with modern processes
besides
the boomer pensions are wayyyyy more than county can handle and it will lead to bk
in the end anyway
best to do it sooner than later
besides
when boomers croak
no one wants to move here
theres no jobs and the word is out:
mendo is a failed state
If Sara Pierce can address some of the long standing issues this county faces, she deserves every penny. I believe she is an experienced honest public servant. I wish her the best.
as interem shes done a terrible job
making it a permanet position wont help
id do the job for $1 a day
amd do a much much better job
its chroneism at its worst
why not just make the payable by a % of savings
just like the counties most likely illegal scheme to shakedown remainging property owners for fake phantom code violations
its a good idea so that wont happen
How can this county afford these astronomical salaries ? The actions of. the BOS and others defy any logical explanation. Waiving the residence requirement……Again !!!
Will the out of. county employees pay any property taxes?
It is such an insult to other county employees and taxpayers.
thank ypu carl for the thoughtful comment
yes
there are may qualified local lawyers for the job
no they were not considered for the job becasue they know how deep the rot runs
i personally know several qualified candidates in mendocino
not to mention
santa rosa/sonoma is bery close
and a little secret
many people actually commute to and from ukiah to sr and vise versa
just fucking rotten to the core
Laura if you’re not so sure about these choices maybe this is a good time for you to leave your city job and apply next time for this job positions. You would do the city of FB a great favor
Expect nothing but more of the same, and you won’t be disappointed.
Code enforcement is punitive revenue generator that does little to address the county’s real problems. Once again, Grover Norquist’s bath tub comes to mind.
Rossi’s four-year contract would start Dec. 6 and run through Dec. 6, 2030, and it waives the county’s residency requirement for the post.
Goodness gracious. Not like we ever get anything of value out of any of the council that’s overpaid. They fumble and bumble about eternally there’s so many attorneys on the books cooking along at any given time. Standard rate of 400 bucks an hour yeah boy oh boy we get our money’s worth out of that one. As far as Sara goes. She knows the corruption. She knows how bad things are behind those closed doors. She’s fully aware of where all the leaks in the pipes are. She’s fully aware of where everyone is sticking their finger in the dykes. She’s fully aware of the lies that management tell to keep everything smoothed over. It’s her choice to sit and be complacent or to actually care about our County that her family has lived in for a hundred years.
I would like to know since there’s mention of it in the article what came down where she didn’t want the position and she was refusing it and now she’s agreed to accept it for years.
$, money changes everything.
As far as the comments about the multiple long-term employees draining hard on County resources yes absolutely there’s tens of 25 year 30 year employees right now sucking on the straw as long as they can while doing as little as they can along the way.
There’s certainly no shortage of opinions regarding the state of county
government. It would be nice to see all
the negative talk bring positive improvement. From my experience it is
sorely needed. The department I worked for lost too many experienced
people that should still be there.