PIMA COUNTY, (Jan. 8, 2025) – The Pima County Board of Supervisors flipped the roles of supervisors Rex Scott and Adelita Grijalva at its Jan. 7 Board meeting, voting 4-0, to name Scott as the new Board Chair and Grijalva as Vice Chair. District 2 Supervisor Matt Heinz was not present for those votes. The Board also voted 3-1 to extend County Administrator Jan Lesher’s employment contract through 2027 and gave her a pay raise to make her salary comparable to other executives of large regional governments. Heinz abstained from the contract vote, stating he wanted a higher salary amount for Lesher.
Grijalva continued to chair the Jan. 7 meeting and Scott will serve his first meeting as chair at the Jan. 21 meeting.
In 2021, Board members informally agreed to annually vote on who will serve as chair for that year. The Board chair conducts board meetings, signs official documents, and often represents the County at public events.
Supervisor Grijalva has served as chair since January 2023. Scott served as vice chair over that same period. Scott and Grijalva, along with Supervisor Heinz, are beginning their second terms on the board, after winning re-election in November. Supervisor Steve Christy is starting his third term.
With the start of new terms, more than a dozen County elected officials took their oaths of office at the Board meeting Tuesday, including new District 3 Supervisor Jennifer Allen.
Among Allen’s first votes on the Board was for the extension of Lesher’s contract. The Board hired Lesher in 2022, replacing Chuck Huckelberry, who retired after a serious bike accident. Lesher had been serving as interim since Huckelberry’s accident in October 2021.
Since then, the city of Tucson and Pima Community College have hired new executives, with each getting paid more than $325,000 a year. Supervisors Scott and Grijalva both said at the meeting that the new salary amount was commensurate with recommendations from the County’s consultant for the overhaul of the job classification and compensation system, and with the salaries of other large government executives in the County. The pay rate also accounts for Lesher’s vast experience in city, state, and federal government, the supervisors said.
With the new contract, her pay increases from $260,000 a year to $330,000 a year, plus benefits. She also will receive an annual $6,600 vehicle allowance and $31,000 a year in deferred compensation. The two-year contract includes two one-year renewal options.
In past years, the County Administrator’s contract was made available to the public before the Board vote, initiated by the County Administrator via memo. In this case, the discussion was initiated by the Board, which opted to go with best practice and release the final executed document and not a draft.