Tuesday, June 28, 2005 • Lassen County looking for a new county counsel

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, June 28, 2005 edition of the Lassen County Times.

John Ketelsen will become Lassen County’s new chief administrative officer on Friday, July 1.

As county counsel, Ketelsen expressed interest in the position after CAO Bill Bixby announced in late February he was leaving on July 15, Bixby said. Ketelsen started work as Lassen County counsel in June 2002.

The Board of Supervisors voted to appoint Ketelsen to the CAO position at its Tuesday, June 21 meeting.

Ketelsen will make roughly $120,000 a year, based on 81 percent of a superior court judge’s salary. Every time the judges get a raise, the CAO also gets a raise.

The two-year contract the board approved also includes a car allowance, an employer-paid disability benefit, life insurance and an annual physical at county expense. It also provides severance pay of six month’s salary for involuntary termination.

The board’s Tuesday, June 28 agenda packet includes a proposed contract to promote Assistant County Counsel Craig Settlemier to Ketelsen’s position. The agenda item calls for the board to appoint a county counsel, approve the contract and authorize the chairman to sign it.

“I have enjoyed my brief return to Lassen County,” Bixby wrote in his resignation letter. “While I would like to fulfill the two-year term of my contract, it is increasingly clear that it would not be in my best interest or yours. At some point you have to admit that while the spirit may be willing, time has caught up with you.”

After discussing the matter in closed session on Tuesday, Feb. 22, the board accepted his resignation and directed county staff to begin the recruitment process for a new CAO.

Bixby replaced Andy Whiteman in May of 2004 on an interim basis after Whiteman resigned to become the city manager of Fort Bragg, California.

Then on June 22, 2004, the board ratified an agreement to keep Bixby on the county payroll for two years.

Bixby retired from the county in December 2000 after heading the CAO’s office for 10 years.

Bixby’s letter thanked the board for its courtesy and support during the months since he returned.

Bixby said the slight overlap before he leaves with give him time to answer any questions Ketelsen may have about the 2005-2006 budget and try to explain the job.

Bixby said he just purchased a home in Spalding at Eagle Lake and plans to spend a couple weeks in Indiana in August, but “will be back as soon I get my trailer fixed.”