Supes officially appoint new CAO

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the appointment of Elishia Hayes to County Administrative Officer on Tuesday.

Hayes previously served as deputy and assistant CAO and took on the role of interim CAO following the resignation of Amy Nilsen in July 2021. She will now be responsible for overseeing the county’s $500 million annual budget, carrying out policies, rules and regulations implemented by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, supervising the affairs and administration of 20 county departments and directly managing six divisions, according to a prepared statement from the county.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Hayes offered her gratitude to the board and said she “wholeheartedly accepts the challenge” of taking on the CAO role.

“It will be a challenge without a doubt, but I am very grateful and humbled by your board for instilling the trust in me to lead the organization,” she said. “I certainly intend and hope to prove that I can be trusted in that realm and I look forward to moving the organization forward in a positive manner. Thank you very much for your trust, I greatly appreciate it.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn praised Hayes for “standing up for what’s best for the county.”

“She doesn’t always give us the answer we want,” he said. “If she tells us we can’t have a cookie, we can’t have a cookie, no matter how hard we want it.”

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell offered her congratulations as well.

“I look forward to what you’ll bring to our organization,” she said. “… I also really, really appreciate that we can have real conversations. It’s really important to me and I know that you’ll do well.”

“Elishia is accomplished and will bring several strengths and stability to our organization. We are confident in the choice to

have her lead the organization,” said 3rd District Supervisor Mike Wilson. “We face numerous issues that will require her full attention and extraordinary effort but more importantly, recognize and use the tremendous energy and expertise of our employees.”

Bohn noted that some people have questioned Hayes’ significant jump in salary but said, “I would like to average anybody that has a half billion-dollar corporation with 2,300 employees working for this cheap.”

The Times-Standard was unable to confirm Hayes’ new salary. However, Nilsen, the previous CAO, was the third highest-paid county employee in 2019 with $279,063 reported total salary and benefits, according to data from Transparent California.

Bohn added that Hayes is “the reason we didn’t have to go looking” and credited Nilsen’s work as CAO which “gave us the opportunity to hire within.”

Neither Humboldt County spokesperson Manny Machado nor Human Resources director Linda Le responded to questions from the TimesStandard on the issue.

The board unanimously approved Hayes’ appointment in a 5-0 vote.