District 1 County Supervisor Mark Medina placed an item on Tuesday’s agenda to have the board discuss prospects for giving their jobs full-time classifications as opposed to their part-time designations now.
The board is set to discuss the item at the 9 a.m. meeting at the County Administration Building, 481 Fourth St.
Medina told San Benito Live he wants to talk about the idea of moving the supervisor roles to full-time positions.
San Benito County, unlike larger nearby counties where the elected supervisors are treated as full-time employees, has part-time supervisors. The board members do not have their own offices. Their job necessities generally entail representing citizens in their districts, making decisions on government matters, and doing research to understand the issues at hand.
Going to full-time, meanwhile, would involve pay increases, wouldn’t it? Supervisors currently make slightly less than $50,000 annually plus benefits.
“I don’t want to talk about the pay at all right now,” Medina said when asked. “I want to talk about, do we need to go from part time to full time?”
He did acknowledge there’s a likelihood that pay hikes would correlate with the full-time classification.
“That’s kind of an assumption if you go from part time to full time,” he said.
Medina said he wanted to bring it up before the majority of the board is up for reelection next year.
He said his idea is that if they become full-time supervisors, those elected officials wouldn’t be able to hold other full-time jobs. Three of the current supervisors, Anthony Botelho, Jim Gillio and Peter Hernandez, own local businesses. Medina and Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz are employed with local businesses.
“Would we be better and would the county be more efficient and effective if we were around during the day?” he said.
