When Sheriff Todd Johns retires July 28, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors intends to appoint Undersheriff Chad Hermann as sheriff for a term that will last until the next presidential election in 2028. Despite widespread support for Hermann, it was not a simple decision.
The 3-2 board vote July 1 came after a 40-minute discussion. Supervisors Dwight Ceresola and Tom McGowan voted no.
Testimonials favoring Hermann
The early part of the board’s discussion was dominated by testimonials of support for Hermann, who has worked for the sheriff’s office since 1994 and served as undersheriff for five years. The board received letters from private citizens and past and present employees of the sheriff’s office. Board of Supervisors Chairman Kevin Goss read aloud a letter of support for Hermann from the Plumas County Sheriff’s Employee’s Association.
“We believe appointing someone already in this position is the best way to ensure stability, preserve internal continuity and maintain the forward progress of the agency,” the letter stated. The association unanimously approved the statement of support for Hermann at an emergency meeting June 30, said Chandler Peay, the group’s president.
Supervisor Jeff Engel moved to appoint Hermann 20 minutes into the discussion. Goss provided the second.
County counsel’s advice
Sheriff Todd Johns announced his decision to retire at the board’s May 20 meeting. He has served the department since 1991. The supervisors appointed him sheriff in 2019. Johns ran for election as sheriff in 2022, easily winning over challenger Dwight Cline in the June election.
Plumas County Counsel Joshua Brechtel opened the July 1 meeting by clarifying that the supervisors did not have the option of calling for a general election to replace Johns. They have wide latitude in making an appointment, he said. The purpose of the discussion was to decide on that process, he said.
After Engel’s motion, Brechtel further clarified that the supervisors cannot make a formal appointment until Johns’ resignation takes effect. “They can certainly express their intent of what they’re going to do on that date. We can establish that this is what’s going to happen,” Brechtel said.
But they could not make an appointment July 1, he said. The soonest the supervisors could do that is Aug. 5, the first regular board meeting after Johns’ July 28 resignation.
At that point in the discussion, Ceresola said, “I’ve had people in District 1 ask to open it up and see who’s interested.” McGowan, who had tried to speak several different times, said he, too, had had constituents interested in opening the process for applicant interviews.
When the supervisors appointed Johns in 2019 they interviewed several candidates for the position. The county did not have an undersheriff at the time and no obvious path for succeeding the elected office. McGowan argued for using the interview process again.
“By appointing we are circumventing part of the election process. … I personally would support developing the methodology for advertising and soliciting interviews,” McGowan said.
Supervisor Mimi Hall objected. “Why would we do that when we have a perfectly competent undersheriff who has been a part of stabilizing our sheriff’s office for the last several years?” she said. “I welcome Undersheriff Hermann to be our next sheriff.”
Johns, who apologized for generating “this difficult decision,” repeatedly urged the supervisors to make an immediate decision appointing Hermann to succeed him. “The longer this drags out, the harder it is on the staff at the sheriff’s office and the public. Your decision today would close this and the uncertainty that the staff is dealing with,” he said.
Engel’s second motion
Following Brechtel’s clarification of the appointment process, Engel proposed a second motion that the board “intends to appoint” Hermann upon Johns’ retirement, and that it will take no nominations for other candidates.
“I’d like to reiterate that there should be a unanimous vote by the board,” Engel said.
McGowan offered a slight counter proposal: “We can make the vote not to go out to interview and put it on our next agenda, effective Aug. 5.”
Engel responded: “I don’t like kicking cans down the road.”
McGowan: “It’s not kicking cans down the road. It’s crossing T’s, dotting I’s.”
Goss: “I am going to request that it comes back on Aug. 5 and be done again.”
The motion he put to the supervisors called for expressing the intent to appoint Hermann as sheriff, to formalize it Aug. 5 and to allow no interviews. Goss, Hall and Engel voted yes. Ceresola and McGowan voted no.
The decision, while not unanimous and not yet an appointment, may avoid the controversy that complicated Johns’ appointment in 2019. It followed the retirement of then-Sheriff Greg Hagwood, who was later elected to the board of supervisors and served one term. The supervisors held interviews for his replacement, ultimately voting 3-0 for Johns. One board seat was vacant. Then-Supervisor Lori Simpson did not vote, citing her opinion that the board should take more time to appoint an individual who will hold the position for more than three years before an election could be held.
If he is formally appointed Aug. 5, Hermann will serve until 2028, when the next presidential election will be held.
