County Budget Hearings and Shawn Nelson

With the County budget hearings going on this week I was curious as to how much involvement Mr. Nelson would have in the process. While he will not be sworn in to his seat until next week, Nelson will ultimately be on board when the budget comes back for a final vote. So I asked County spokesman Howard Sutter what information had been communicated to the Supervisor-elect regarding the budget.

First it should be noted that the fact that a new Supervisor needs to be brought up to speed rapidly is the main reason that staff occupies the district office from the point of vacancy to the time a vacancy is filled. Not only does this allow for district level service to be maintained, it allows for staff to be ready to support a new Supervisor once sworn in and during the transition.

“CEO staff briefed Mr. Nelson and a member of his staff on the budget late last week and offered to be available for any follow-up questions they might have,” County Spokesman Howard Sutter said. “He has also been provided with the same budget books and summaries as received by the offices of the four current Board members.”

As to whether Mr. Nelson is afforded additional time to speak and ask questions during the buget hearings over the normal ability of members of the public, Sutter said; that would be the Board prerogative.” From what we have been able to find out, Mr. Nelson has not made any direct inquires to the Board Chair’s office asking for speaking time and it is believed that his staff will likely be watching the hearings from their desks online.

The budget hearings are scheduled to begin today at 9;30 am and will continue on Wednesday at 9:30 am as well. You can watch them live here. When a similar budget hearing came up in Fullerton this year, Nelson went A.W.O.L. for most of the meeting to attend a fundraiser for his Supervisor campaign. I’ve got to wonder if he will assign the same level of attention to detail towards his new job?