Rebecca Callen
Rebecca Callen, the Calaveras County auditor-controller, announced Tuesday she will not return to office after her term expires at the end of 2018.
In an email disseminated to the board of supervisors last week, she said the county was heading in a direction she did not want to be part of. She added the leadership and decisions have not corresponded with her vision.
Callen said leadership within the county is fractured. When faced with decisions, leaders take differing perspectives to drive the situation in 20 different directions. She said it leaves the county overextended.
Callen won the position in an election in 2010 after she defeated Carl Stoughton, a business owner at the time. Callen ran unopposed in 2014.
Entering the election next year, Calaveras will have qualifications for the position. The county does not currently list any requirements for the job, meaning any registered voter can run for the office.
If approved during a supervisors meeting on Nov. 14, applicants will need either a certified public accountant accreditation, a university degree with a major in accounting plus five years experience, with three continuous, in a senior fiscal management position dealing with fiscal responsibilities, a certification from the Institute of Internal Auditors with a professional internal auditor designation plus at least 16 college semester units in accounting, finance or auditing or have served in a county auditors role for a continuous period of at least three years.
Factoring in on the decision to forego the election, Callen said the other key issues in Calaveras have fell out of priority. She said the General Plan, avenues for economic growth, disaster recovery, county staff and facilities have been ignored with the emphasis to deal with the marijuana situation.
“Every jurisdiction felt recovery from the recession. We missed it. We’ve been so involved with the minutiae, we fell asleep at the wheel.”
There could be time for a change of heart, Callen said, but she acknowledged it would take progress toward “civility and unification.” She has felt unsupported much of the past two years. She said she felt retaliated against by people she declined to identify.
“They know who they are,” Callen said.
The candidacy declaration and nomination period begins on Feb. 12, 2018, and ends on March 14, 2018, if Callen does not file to return, said Calaveras County Clerk-Recorder Rebecca Turner. The signatures-in-lieu of filing fee period begins on Dec. 14 and ends on Feb. 7, 2018.
An election for the position will be held during the California Primary Election on June 5, Turner said. If a single candidate does not obtain more than 50 percent of the vote, the position will be determined in a run-off election on Nov. 6, 2018.
The newly elected individual will take office on Jan. 7, 2019.
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