The Merced County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Mark Hendrickson, a veteran county administrator, as the county’s permanent CEO.
Hendrickson began working in the county’s top, unelected position in May on an interim basis after the departure of former CEO Raul Lomeli Mendez.
His appointment earlier this week on a unanimous vote was widely expected, and the county supervisors each praised his work with the county and reiterated their confidence that he is the right person for the job.
As CEO, Hendrickson will lead the county’s 2,000 employees and spearhead the $1.14 billion budget.
After the vote, Hendrickson delivered a 15-minute address thanking the current board and his family, while also outlining his expectations for the organization moving forward.
“This is actually not about me. This is about the future of this county. It’s about what I can do, ultimately, to help this board find success with our goals and objectives,” he said.
The Merced FOCUS sent Hendrickson a list of questions about his goals and priorities in his new role. His answers are as follows.
What are your top three priorities as you step into the highest-appointed position in Merced County?
“Merced County has many competing priorities of course, but I’m particularly excited to focus on driving up our customer service, ensuring the fiscal stability of our organization in these most challenging of times, and enhancing the connection between Merced County and the community we proudly serve.”
You mentioned your goal is to transform Merced County into the highest-performing county in the state. What do you mean by that? How do you measure that?
“This is about organizational mindset. Essentially, what can we do every single day to be the best, to drive excellence, to innovate, to promote care and compassion, and to be the most efficient with the taxpayer’s resources?
“This will be achieved through various tactics and metrics including data-driven decision making, performance metrics, leadership, fiscal discipline and proactive community engagement. Customer service satisfaction and fiscal performance of the organization can and should be measured regularly.”
Why is it, in your opinion, that the general public has a negative view of government? How do you fix that?
“Whether at the federal, state or local levels, the public often has a negative view of government due to inefficiencies, lack of transparency or accountability, poor customer service, perceived waste, and slow response. Factors like these erode trust and make people feel disconnected with government.
“In our case, my personal mission is to transform how people view Merced County service delivery, and we will achieve that in several different ways through proactive engagement with the community, actively looking for opportunities to innovate and becoming more efficient with our processes to make it simpler for the customer to navigate.
“The Board of Supervisors is fully committed to enhancing the experience for our residents, and my role is largely to help them achieve this strategic objective.”
The County has faced some challenges in the last few years – closing fire stations, increasing health premiums for employees, staffing issues in the sheriff’s office. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing Merced County currently, and how will the organization overcome it?
“There are many challenges facing counties across California today, and certainly Merced County is not immune. We have our fair share, but I truly believe that our brightest days are yet to come.
“Nearly six out of 10 Merced County residents receive some form of social assistance. I’m concerned with the impacts of decisions being made in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento that have the potential to compromise our ability to assist the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Unfunded mandates or reductions in funding are a major challenge we will need to continue monitoring and preparing for. We will continue to work closely with our federal and state elected officials, advocating on behalf of Merced County residents.
“All of this said, funding in general is a concern as the overall cost of business has grown in recent years.
“While the County has a $1.15 billion budget, the vast majority of the spending plan is non-discretionary, meaning that federal and state requirements dictate how those resources are utilized. For the portion of the budget that is discretionary, approximately 19% of the total budget, the Board of Supervisors continues to have a razor-sharp focus on investing in public safety and has been successful securing several multiyear labor agreements in recent weeks.
“Fiscal discipline and sustainability, long priorities of the Board, will be major tenets of our approach prospectively.”
You mentioned that in your tenure working for the county, you’ve worked with eight different compositions of the Board of Supervisors. What is your approach to working with individual supervisors and the board as a whole, particularly when there are conflicting views or opinions?
“I’ve been fortunate over the years to work for some incredibly wonderful people, people who have dedicated themselves to the noble cause of public service.
“Divergent points of view can absolutely be healthy as part of the decision-making process, and my personal approach is rather simple – focus on building trust, facilitating consensus and maintaining neutrality. In this regard, in my mind at least, a successful executive should provide balanced analysis and multiple policy options, facilitate respectful dialogue, leverage objective data, present facts and practical solutions, engage in respectful communication and ensure clarity of decision-points.”
What do you see as the main responsibility of a county CEO?
“The main responsibility of a County Executive Officer is to implement policies set by the Board of Supervisors, to oversee the day-to-day operations of county government, and manage the county’s budget and departments. The Board of Supervisors have a strategic plan, inclusive of several goals and objectives, and the CEO is responsible for seeing them achieved. Our Board (members) are champions for the community, and the CEO is there to assist them in that effort.
“The bottom line is that the CEO sets the tone for the organization and how the team interfaces with the community we proudly serve.”