Santa Clara County looks to consolidate independent boards

Santa Clara County leaders are asserting stronger authority over key services and public land in the region. While the proposed changes have come with explanations, they haven’t gone through without friction.

The county has moved to take direct control of various agencies under independent boards over the past two years. Officials want to replace the county fairgrounds’ appointed board with county employees. They already did that with the governing board of the Santa Clara Family Health Plan last year. The Board of Supervisors even publicly considered removing the elected board that oversees the county Office of Education in 2024, though that idea was more exploratory and hasn’t moved forward.

Taking over the fairgrounds board would be the county’s latest step to consolidate power. Officials said the proposal stems from a disconnect between the fairgrounds board and county administration. The issue manifested in public comments at a board of supervisors meeting Tuesday, where residents from Gilroy complained — to the wrong decision-making body — about the date of the county fair.

“I had to explain that’s not in our scope,” County Executive James Williams told San José Spotlight. “That’s the kind of confusion that stems from the fact the county has the responsibility of long-term planning of the site, but not the day-to-day management.”

In the 1990s, county leaders established the fairgrounds management corporation as a separate legal entity — a nonprofit public benefit corporation — with a five-member board of directors appointed by elected county supervisors.

The structure was meant to maintain a level of independence while the county remained the land’s legal owner. But officials said they’re concerned about the fairgrounds board locking the property into agreements that hamper the county’s ability to plan the land’s long-term future as an entertainment and community gathering space. Another issue is a lack of county oversight over the property in general.

In 2024, county officials suggested replacing the existing five-member fairgrounds board with a three-member board comprised of two county employees and a third independent director nominated by county administration. Officials have publicly indicated plans to revisit those options this month.

South Bay Labor Council Executive Officer Jean Cohen is in a unique position. She’s the newest fairgrounds board member — and is helping lead conversations about how to change its governance structure. She said it remains to be seen how the debate will balance the county’s interests with the interests of the fairgrounds board.

“I think the most important opportunity is for all stakeholders to clearly communicate their needs and visions and for there to be a comprehensive effort for the fairgrounds to reflect Santa Clara County’s priorities,” Cohen told San José Spotlight.

Supervisors made a similar move in May when they voted to replace the governing board of Santa Clara Family Health Plan in favor of filling the seats with county employees.

The county established the Family Health Plan in 1995 to integrate care for people eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal under a more independent form of governance. But ultimately, over the following decades, county leaders argued the agency had strayed into a separate insurance company more concerned with cost containment and surplus revenue, leading to lower reimbursements for county hospitals.

The county’s decision last year was controversial. Former members of the Family Health Plan’s governing board accused the county of a “reprehensible” and “hostile” takeover. County leaders said they were forced to act by unprecedented federal spending cuts under H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Donald Trump last July, which spelled an existential threat to their massive public hospital system.

“The question we ask ourselves is, what do we need to do to provide the most effective service to the community?” Williams said. “That means we need to take another look at certain structures or ways in which services have been previously organized and delivered, to ensure we are being the most proactive, responsive and effective organization to meet today’s challenges.”

The approach has sparked fears of a county takeover in other service areas, even where none are necessarily planned. An effort to rethink the region’s disaster aid pipeline — which county leaders ultimately held off on — sent alarms through the nonprofit community in late fall.

The county had moved to repeal a resolution recognizing a nonprofit known as Collaborating Agencies Disaster Relief Effort (CADRE) as a state-designated coordinator of local churches and nonprofits to deliver food, shelter and other urgent aid to residents during pandemics, wildfires and prolonged heat waves. CADRE leaders at the time questioned whether this was another instance of the county seizing control.

Williams said that was never the intent.

“It was really a question of, when we’re in an emergency or after an emergency, how are we organizing the government-nonprofit interface as we collaborate on response?” Williams said. “The question was, should that nonprofit interface be coordinated through CADRE or should it be more multifaceted where Salvation Army or Red Cross also are playing roles in addition to CADRE?”

Marsha Hovey, executive director of CADRE, said her organization remains in the dark about the county’s plans. She insists the system works with CADRE as the county’s point of contact.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Hovey, a former longtime director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management, told San José Spotlight.

Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee said the county is always looking at ways to improve service delivery and make operations more efficient.

“As we face challenges from federal budget cuts, we are going to continue to be nimble and innovative as we make organizational changes, while also doing everything possible to protect the critical services our community members rely on,” Lee told San José Spotlight.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.