Pima County Board balks at Huckelberry contract

The Pima County Board of Supervisors balked at giving County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry a new four year contract with a pay raise Tuesday, opting for a 2 week extension instead. The move gives 3 rookie board members a chance to review their options.

Huckelberry has managed Pima County government since 1993, gaining a lot of experience, a shelf full of awards, and a lot of seniority, with a yearly salary over 300-thousand dollars. He's collected a few critics, too, like Steve Christie, the county board's sole Republican, who made a motion Tuesday morning to end Huckelberry's contract, "effective immediately," as Christie said.

That went nowhere, but so did Huckelberry's own request for a four-year contract extension with a raise. The five member board, with three new members attending their first meeting, wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment. Instead the board approved supervisor Adelita Grijalva's motion to give Huckelberry a two-week extension.

"I respect his institutional knowledge. That's not something that I can replace or anybody in this county can replace. This is not an effort for me to try to come up with some other alternative leadership model or whatever because I do think that this is a very difficult time for our county. Given that, I would like the opportunity to be able to talk about some of the nuances of the contract with legal advice, and so that's why I'm asking for (the extension)," Grijalva said.

At its January 19 meeting the board will discuss Huckelberry's contract behind closed doors. His request for a raise has been criticized as tone deaf, coming at a time when many people are struggling through a pandemic and an economic downturn.