Shasta supervisor calls county counsel's retirement 'suspicious,' as departures continue

The pace of departures among top Shasta County officials sped up recently, with two more department heads leaving and one of them quitting a month earlier than planned ― creating what one supervisor called a “suspicious” situation.

The two newest departures bring the number of county department heads and executives who have either quit, retired or been fired to at least 10 over the past year-and-a-half.

Director of Public Works Al Cathey said he is retiring and his last day on the job is Friday. He had been public works director for a little more than a year. Before taking the top public works job, he had worked for the county 28 years, he said.

County Counsel James Ross, who was appointed to the post less than four months ago, had planned to work until Aug. 11. But he notified supervisors Monday he intended to leave the job sooner.

Supervisor Tim Garman said he was not happy with the way Ross was treated.

“He was tired of being mistreated. That’s my guess,” Garman said. He declined to be more specific about the reasons behind Ross’ early departure.

Ross sent out an email Monday to county supervisors announcing that he was quitting that day, Garman said. Supervisors Patrick Jones and Kevin Crye asked County Executive Officer David Rickert to have Ross leave his office immediately, rather than at the end of the workday, he said.

The two supervisors did not follow proper Board of Supervisors protocol, Garman said.

“I have a problem with that because, as you know, you can't have two supervisors going to speak for our entire board,” Garman said. “Two supervisors don’t get to make a decision like that.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman Patrick Jones said he contacted Rickert after he got the email from Ross.

“So I talked to Supervisor Crye. He was concerned about certain documents. And so I went down, met with CEO Rickert and Supervisor Crye, and by that time it was 3 o'clock,” Jones said. “We had a brief discussion and decided that we would ask him to leave a little early at 3 o’clock as opposed to five, but he only said he's going to stay until the 10th. So he may have already left by then. I do not know. IT (information technology employees) just went over to recover computer laptops, cell phones and such, to retain anything that's county property.”

Why was Jones and Crye concerned about county computers and documents?

“Well, we're always concerned with documents from any employee that's leaving, particularly in county counsel, where you have a lot of sensitive documents. We just wanted to make sure that all was left behind,” Jones said.

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Jones also said the board was set to meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss Ross and his department.

“We did have a closed session on the 11th that was concerning him and the office. And it was unusual, it was somewhat suspicious, that he would retire the day before,” when he had originally said he would retire in August, Jones said.

“So the day before we have a closed session regarding the office, it was a little unusual in that regard. So we just wanted to make sure that all computers and all cell phones would remain in county hands,” he said.

Attempts to reach Ross this week for comment were unsuccessful.

Garman said he wanted to discuss further among board members how only two supervisors were able to direct the CEO to have Ross leave work early.

The departures of Ross and Cathey are just the latest among a spate of departures among top county staff since last year.

Administrators who have left include former County Executive Officer Matt Pontes; former Health and Human Services Agency Director Donnell Ewert; former Director of Adult Services Paige Green; and former Support Services Director Shelley Forbes.

In May 2022, supervisors fired by a 3-2 vote former Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom.

Her dismissal came around the time that public health workers were reporting threats and leaving their jobs due to the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic. It received statewide attention and might have played a role in the county's ability to quickly hire her replacement.

Rubin Cruse retired as county counsel in April, leading to Ross’ appointment.

Ewert said the political climate surrounding the Board of Supervisors was part of the reason he chose to retire last year.

Mary Williams, a former deputy county CEO and acting CEO quit her job in June. She told the Record Searchlight it was getting more difficult to do her job when she feels some of the work "is something that I don’t believe in and things I don’t feel are best for the community.” She wasn’t more specific.

Williams, though, emphasized that her departure was not a reflection on new CEO Rickert.

Vacancies and employee turnover with the county haven’t been limited to upper management. County Health and Human Services Agency officials have reported there are more than 225 unfilled positions in that department.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta supervisor calls retirement 'suspicious,' as departures persist