Johnny Johnston told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Friday that he is stepping down after seven years as the county's chief executive, ending a 40-year career in public service.
Amiable and savvy, Johnston is credited with returning financial and structural stability to a $1.7-billion county government that at one point was in such disarray that a predecessor declared it ungovernable and left after only four days on the job.
What's more, Johnston has earned nearly universal respect among the county government's rank-and-file workers, its department managers and even elected officials with whom he has crossed swords.
"Even when we disagreed, he was always a gentleman and he always kept his word," said Sheriff Bob Brooks, who along with Dist. Atty. Gregory Totten sued Johnston and county supervisors in a high-profile budget battle that lasted several years. "We have developed a good friendship and I'm going to sorely miss him."
Johnston's bosses on the board also showered praise on the man known for easing tense moments with quips or folksy anecdotes.
"His intelligence, his disposition and his experience are stellar," Supervisor Linda Parks said. "He's so good it will be hard to find someone to replace him."
Added Supervisor Steve Bennett, who arrived on the board just months before Johnston took the top job: "The complete skill set that he brought, you'll never find that again."
Johnston, who turns 65 in December, said he will stay on the job until the end of March, allowing supervisors five months to find a successor.
Johnston said Friday that he has been thinking about retirement for a couple of years, now that government finances are solid and turf wars that once raged among department heads have calmed.
It's time to clear the way for others, he said.
"I love the job and don't really want to go," he said. "But it needs to be done."
When Johnston assumed the top office in April 2001, budget reserves were close to zero. Layoffs and service reductions loomed on the horizon. This year, reserves approached 10% of discretionary funding, and Wall Street showed its approval by giving the county top marks for credit worthiness.
Supervisors last year opened a second public hospital in Santa Paula, and the county's public health system in recent years has become a national model. Unionized employees rarely fill the Board of Supervisors' room to protest labor agreements, as they did in the past. And long-raging battles over departmental budgets have settled to a whimper.
