Mendocino CEO to Retire
Mendocino CEO Carmel Angelo will retire this spring, according to a news release. She will step down March 19.
Angelo has served the county for the past 15 years, first signing on in 2007 as Director of Health and Human Services. She was appointed CEO in 2010. Before that, she worked for San Diego County.
Angelo’s role as CEO came at a time of great uncertainty for many Counties, including rural Counties like Mendocino, when the fiscal crisis hit, affecting local government budgets throughout the State. Her background in fiscal discipline supported her work with individual county departments to help the County remain stable throughout her first few years in the Executive Office. This first major challenge would prove helpful as she guided the organization through future challenges, including multiple disastrous fire and flood events and their recovery work to the unprecedented pandemic of the past two years.
Though her work in local government began with the more urban population of San Diego County, Angelo’s heart moved towards advocating for rural counties. “The budgets are smaller, the needs are greater and cost of doing business is almost the same as a larger County. Fighting for the needs of a rural county has been a cause that will always be important to me” Angelo said, reflecting on her decade-plus experience in Mendocino County.
Not only was Angelo instrumental with keeping County Government moving forward with the various County Board of Supervisors over the years, she also would collaborate with other neighboring counties. In 2015, she was directed by the Board of Supervisors to bring together nearby Counties who were also juggling with forthcoming legal cannabis legislation. In 2015, with Mendocino County hosting, Mendocino and other surrounding Counties produced a statewide policy on proposed legislation which would give voice to the region’s cannabis cultivating Counties in Sacramento.
Angelo has served as President of the California Association of County Executives (CACE), as a member of the Executive Committee of California Association of Counties’ (CSAC) Woman’s Leadership Forum, and as a CSAC Institute Fellow. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from CACE, the 2018 President’s Award from Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), the 2019 CSAC Circle of Service Award, and the 2021 CACE President’s Award.
On Jan. 25, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Assistant CEO Darcie Antle as Interim CEO, effective March 20, 2022. Antle currently serves as Assistant Chief Executive Officer for the county.
