A divided Imperial County Board of Supervisors last week chose a new top administrator to replace Miguel Figueroa, who they fired earlier this year.
The five-member board appointed Kathleen Lang, an administrator at the national, for-profit health care company Centene Corporation, to serve as the county’s new chief executive officer. Centene provides services for Medi-Cal recipients in Imperial County.
The decision wasn’t unanimous. At their meeting on June 10, two supervisors, Martha Cardenas-Singh and Jesus Escobar, said they voted against Lang’s appointment — largely because Lang will receive a salary of $290,000, which is significantly higher than what they were paying Figueroa.
Cardenas-Singh said she sees the board’s decision as part of a “common trend,” where supervisors will sign off on significant raises for county officials.
“It is not about Dr. Lang,” she said. “It's about how we decided (on) a 33% increase.”
Escobar also added that he was concerned about whether Lang had sufficient management and economic development experience.
Supervisor Peggy Price welcomed Lang, and said she supported the new chief executive’s appointment but warned that the county could face difficult decisions relating to federal funding and the health of local industries in the coming months.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” Price said.
In addition to her work at Centene Corporation, Lang is listed as a faculty member in public administration at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley campus.
She has also served as president of the Brawley Chamber of Commerce and on a committee overseeing training and recruitment with Imperial County’s Continuum of Care.
Lang studied public administration at San Diego State University and graduated with a Master’s degree in 2007.
Her appointment follows several high-profile shake-ups on the county’s leadership.
In April, the board abruptly fired Figueroa, after placing him on leave a month prior. They also fired the clerk of the board, Blanca Acosta.
County officials declined to explain the decision, saying they could not comment on “personnel matters or ongoing internal investigations.”
Two weeks later, they separately voted to publicly reprimand the county’s auditor-controller, Karina Alvarez.
Lang will take up the role of chief executive as Imperial County prepares for public hearings on next year’s budget in August.
County officials are navigating a range of ongoing challenges, including threatened cuts to federal safety net programs like Medi-Cal, the closure of a major farming plant and ongoing uncertainty around the future of the nascent lithium industry.
The five supervisors recently made a trip to Washington D.C. to appeal to members of Congress and the White House for federal assistance with these issues.
