In maneuvers similar to secret meetings in 1993 that have cost taxpayers millions, Supervisor-elect Sharon Bronson has been pushing behind the scenes for the county manager's ouster.
Bronson, who crushed Republican Ed Moore in the general election, met Dec. 21 with incumbent Republican Supervisor Mike Boyd seeking his support to fire Chuck Huckelberry, Boyd confirmed Thursday.
Boyd says Bronson and her aide, former Star reporter Chris Limberis, wanted his backing to replace Huckelberry with Bruce Postil, a former deputy county manager who supported Bronson's campaign.
Boyd said Bronson approached him because Democrat Raul Grijalva doesn't want to fire Huckelberry for Postil. The board's other Democrat, Dan Eckstrom has said he would support the switch.
Had he agreed to Bronson's proposal, Boyd says he would have been the needed third vote on the board to dump Huckelberry from the $127,000-a-year job he has held since late 1993.
Postil, who with his wife contributed $3,540 to Bronson's campaign, won a hefty settlement last year in a lawsuit he filed after losing his job in the 1993 re-organization.
Postil says he has not been approached by anyone on the board to become manager and refused to say whether he would accept the job offer.
The half-dozen firings and several demotions planned as Boyd and Paul Marsh joined the board in January 1993 have cost taxpayers at least $4.3 million in court settlements. At the time, Moore had just won a third term and both Boyd and Marsh, a Republican, had yet to be sworn into office.
The lunch meeting between Boyd, Bronson and her aide occurred one day after Limberis quit his reporting job.
Bronson said that in the meeting with Boyd she only mentioned Postil as a possible candidate.
Furthermore, she said her private meetings are a typical part of politics, especially when there is a change in leadership.
"This is not a house-cleaning like in 1993," Bronson said yesterday. "That's irresponsible."
She said unlike the secret 1993 GOP meetings, none of the Democrats of the new majority has charted out a massive restructuring of the county.
Furthermore, she says the conversations with her colleagues has centered on Huckelberry, whose contract to be county manager expired with the new year.
"The focus is the county manager, the focus is not the rest of the staff," Bronson said.
But other board members say that firing a half-dozen other administrators also has been discussed in informal meetings with Bronson since the election.
Bronson maintains that it's the board's option to choose its leadership.
"I don't care who the county manager is," Bronson said. "I just want a county manager that all the board can work with."
Still, she never approached John Even, the just-elected GOP supervisor, about replacing Huckelberry or other personnel, Even said last night.
Bronson said that while Huckelberry was not specifically discussed, she and Even talked about needed changes throughout the county during a lunch soon after the election. But Even, who defeated Marsh in the September primary election, says the lunch was merely to get acquainted and that specific plans were not discussed.
Even contends that before discussing firing Huckelberry, he should at least be given a one-year contract and with specific expectations from the board.
Bronson says that Huckelberry lacks the skills to seize control of the county budget and has moved too slowly to repair the ineffective changes the GOP made in 1993.
Huckelberry, who replaced Manoj Vyas, the man the GOP chose to restyle the county government in 1993, says he is not surprised by the discussion to push him out.
"I expected that there would be a lot of discussion about whether I would continue, and that's very legitimate," Huckelberry said. "The board has the right to select whomever they want as county manager."
Eckstrom, who is not one of Huckelberry's allies on the board, agrees.
He says that private meetings with his fellow board members about Huckelberry should be expected since his contract has expired and Even and Bronson will join the board.
"Decisions are not being made," Eckstrom says of the talks. "Decisions are made when you vote."
But Grijalva says that while meetings, such as the one between Bronson and Boyd are not illegal, he worries the public will think it is too much like those before the sweeping 1993 restyling.
Grijalva is expected to become board chairman Tuesday at the board's first meeting, concedes that he had some discussions with Bronson about Huckelberry and other administrators' job performance.
But he says he prefers a more public approach to a restructuring of county government.
He said he wants Huckelberry to devise a plan for restyling and trimming county management, but that it should be approved by the board in a public meeting.
"I think there's a tone that is set early, and I hope that our tone is going to be different than the Republicans in 1993," Grijalva said.
