Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, right, has been leading the county for 27 years.

 Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star 2020

One thing about Chuck Huckelberry — he has a feel for power dynamics.

Right now, with his contract about to expire, he is in a powerful position.

We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and the county is in charge of the local response. Vaccine distribution is just ramping up.

He has a five-member Board of Supervisors coming with a majority who are new members: Matt Heinz in District 2, Adelita Grijalva in District 5 and Rex Scott in District 1.

As newcomers arriving mid-crisis, they could use some experienced leadership in county administration.

So what does Huckelberry do?

He drops into their first meeting a request for a new four-year contract and a $13,000-per-year raise.

Pima County healthcare workers get the COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through clinic at Banner University Medicine in Tucson on Dec. 17, 2020. The other vaccination site is Tucson Medical Center. Video by Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Daily Star

In other words, they’ll just be getting their feet wet, holding their votes for a chair and vice chair. Then shortly thereafter at Tuesday’s meeting, they’ll be asked to hand the longtime county administrator another four years in office at more than $300,000 per year.

Clever.

Now, it’s true that Huckelberry’s last four-year contract expires this week, so this is the right time to start discussing whether they want to offer a new contract and what the terms should be. But it’s definitely not an apt time for the board to be jumping into a new commitment with the old administrator.

Huckelberry, by the way, was first hired as “interim Pima County manager” in December 1993, before the board made him the permanent hire the next year at a salary of $121,000. So he’s been leading the county for 27 years. To many people, the man they call “King Chuck” is the county administration, for better or worse.

I called around to the three new supervisors Monday to get a sense of their comfort level with taking this big vote in their first meeting. Grijalva didn’t return my message, and Scott said he didn’t want to talk about it, but Heinz said he isn’t very comfortable with the situation.

“I don’t see who could be,” he said. “Sixty percent of the board is new.”

“I think Pima County has done very well having someone with experience such as Chuck Huckelberry,” he added. “But this is a big decision, and we need to be sure we have all the information.”

The contract is not complicated, but it is generous, as Huckelberry’s contracts have been for years. At $302,000 per year now, Huckelberry is already one of the country’s best paid county administrators. The new contract would boost that base salary to $315,000.

His memo to the board requesting the pay increase doesn’t really justify it. He acknowledges that over the last four years, his base pay rose from $288,000 in 2017 to $302,000 now.

Then he says, “My previous base salary was established four years ago, and I have received the same salary adjustments as other county employees during the four-year period since the previous contract was approved. My present annual base compensation is near $302,000; hence my request for a base salary of $315,000.”

Huckelberry also routinely gets an additional 15 days per year of vacation and 15 days of sick leave beyond that normally afforded a Pima County employee with 20 years experience. And he is due to be paid all unused sick and vacation pay at the end of his contract — it’s a rich benefit.

The timing may be advantageous for Huckelberry, but it is also galling to some Pima County employees. Starting Dec. 21, under a proposal from Huckelberry, Pima County put 20% of its 7,000-person workforce on a stay-at-home order.

If they had leave to use, they could use it. But if they didn’t, they would probably be furloughed.

Huckelberry has also been very reticent to embrace telecommuting during the pandemic. He’s repeatedly limited its use even as other government and business entities went all-in.

So while the timing is good for Huckelberry, it’s tough for the board, and bordering on offensive for county employees.

At the start of this new era on the board, the members should assert their authority by doing nothing, or at least nothing dramatic, at Tuesday’s meeting.

Huckelberry can wait and work under the terms of the old contract for a while as the new members sort out what they want to do.

That will let them take some power back in this negotiation.

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Contact opinion columnist Tim Steller at 807-7789 or

tsteller@tucson.com.

On Twitter: @senyorreporter