MENDOCINO CO., 10/18/26 — Mendocino County supervisors will vote Tuesday on a new top lawyer for the county: Michael Rossi, a longtime lawyer in the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office. The job would pay him $271,000 a year, according to the meeting agenda.
When the county advertised the job in May, the posting said the last county counsel made $200,000. That’s $71,000 less. With benefits, Rossi’s job would cost an estimated $460,700 a year, according to the agenda. The county put that total at $340,000 for Charlotte Scott, the last permanent county counsel, when the board hired her in June 2024.
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. Board Chair Bernie Norvell and the Human Resources Department brought the item.
Rossi joined the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office in 1997 and is now lead deputy county counsel for its community protection team, according to his biography on that office’s website. The biography says he has tried more than 300 cases. He was a deputy district attorney in Santa Clara County before that. State Bar records show he was admitted in December 1996 and lists no discipline.
The board has filled the job three times since January 2024, twice with interims. That January, it hired James Ross of the Renne Public Law Group as interim county counsel under a $210,000 contract with the firm, according to county records. Scott, a longtime lawyer in the office, took the permanent job in July 2024 on a term that ran to 2028. But Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her a Mendocino County Superior Court judge in October 2025.
Katharine L. Elliott has been interim county counsel since January.
The CEO job
The board will also vote Tuesday on making Sara Pierce, interim chief executive officer since June, the permanent CEO. Her three-year contract would pay $275,000 a year, or $481,000 with benefits, starting Tuesday and running through Oct. 20, 2029, according to the agenda. The board set her interim pay at $202,716.80 in June. Her predecessor, Darcie Antle, was paid $225,000 a year under a 2024 contract that raised her pay to $250,000 if she met certain conditions, county records show.
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 applicants. None had been picked for an interview, Johnson said.
The board voted 3-2 that day to advertise the job at $250,000 to $300,000 a year, with Supervisors John Haschak and Ted Williams voting no.
Other business
Haschak and Williams are asking the board to direct staff to bring back an amnesty program for buildings put up without permits. A staff presentation says the county’s last amnesty, from Nov. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2024, waived violation and penalty fees for owners who applied to permit work already done. It drew 135 applications, and 81 permits were issued.
The board will also hold a public hearing on asking the California Coastal Commission to approve baseline sea level rise policies for the county’s coastal plan. A 2023 state law requires local governments on the coast to adopt a sea level rise plan by Jan. 1, 2034, according to a planning staff memo.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah. It can be joined on Zoom at mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/87406952116, and the agenda is at mendocino.legistar.com.