Sacramento County supervisors select first woman county executive amid misconduct inquiry

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors appointed Ann Edwards on Monday to be the acting county executive, replacing Navdeep Gill who was placed on paid leave while facing an investigation into alleged misconduct.

Edwards, who is the director of the department of human assistance, will be the first woman to hold the top position, which oversees thousands of employees. She has worked for the county in a number of leadership roles, including as chief deputy county executive for countywide services, since 1998.

Edwards left for a brief stint to become the director of social services in Solano County in 2013, but returned to Sacramento County the following year to lead the Department of Human Assistance, which is partly responsible for social programs like Medi-Cal, indigent health care, CalFresh and support services for foster children.

“I have accepted the Board of Supervisors’ request to stand in as acting county executive during this critical time,” Edwards said in a prepared statement. “The public’s business is the Board’s and my highest priority. Together, we will work to provide the county with the stability, focus and leadership this moment requires.”

The county has been bogged down by a series of issues surrounding Gill, who has been the county executive since 2016. Some lawmakers became increasingly concerned with Gill’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly his decision to direct a large sum of federal money to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

When revealed to the public, the disclosure provoked a rebuke from residents and activists alike.

Since August, a group of public health employees has accused Gill of trying to bully and intimidate them, specifically Dr. Olivia Kasirye who was forcefully discouraged from declaring a public health emergency during a phone conversation with Gill in March, The Bee previously reported.

The public health employees wrote several letters to the Board of Supervisors which broadly claimed their response to the COVID-19 crisis has been stymied by Gill, who withheld funding, they said. County lawmakers ordered $45 million of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act money be directed to health services but the problems continued.

In September, Gill held an indoor meeting with top managers where most people did not wear masks and one person subsequently tested positive for COVID-19; 10 others later had to quarantine.

That revelation prompted two supervisors — Patrick Kennedy and Phil Serna — to ask for Gill’s resignation but he declined to leave.

The supervisors held a vote of no confidence last month, which passed 3-2, and all five lawmakers unanimously agreed to place him on paid administrative leave while an outside firm investigates the bullying accusations. The lawmakers did not immediately appoint a successor until this week.

“(Ann Edwards) has been a dedicated public servant throughout her career,” Serna said in a prepared statement, “and we are confident she will provide steady leadership in this new role.”