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Five Monterey County Supervisors as of 4/4/2026
Five Monterey County Supervisors as of 4/4/2026
Luis Alejo
Supervisor
District 1
district1@countyofmonerey.gov
(831) 755-5011; fax: (831) 755-5876
Glenn Church
Superviser
District 2
district2@countyofmonerey.gov
(831) 755-5022
Chris Lopez
Supervisor
District 3
district3@countyofmonerey.gov
(831) 755-5033
Wendy Root-Askew
Supervisor
District 4
district4@countyofmonerey.gov
(831) 883-7570, (831) 755-5044
Kate Daniels
Supervisor
District 5
District5@countyofmonerey.gov
Current Concerns >>
Current Concerns >>
The Five Supervisor system was established in the 1800s when the population was a fraction what it is today. It did not keep up with growth or governance needs, and it was outgrown decades ago.
Currently, nothing is working properly for the people paying the taxes in the county OTHER THAN those acting as Civil Servants,. They are getting paid 200 to 300% more than they should be with no accountability to each other or anyone else while using excess revenue to bring more people unnecessarily into civil service to build their ranks ALL WHILE getting protection from the County Counsel's office for misbehavior -- given it it is their job to protect the county from lawsuits -- not expose or correct misbehavior.
In Monterey County, the County Counsel's office has 20 Attorneys, 7 legal secretaries and 9 compliance officers. But if all the Civil Servants know they have a county Counsel geared to protect everyone from lawsuits -- what incentive is there for anyone to behave properly?
Furthermore, if the County Counsel's office became aware of questionable behavior, most probably would NOT ask for documentation or dig -- to avoid culpability for concealment of facts.
Thus, it's presumed at this time once things are brought to their attention they ask for little to no information to remain "in the dark" intentionally, and that creates what kind of system exactly?
County Governance Intro - An Introduction to California County Governing (via Monterey County Example)
County Governance Intro - An Introduction to California County Governing (via Monterey County Example)
Monterey County is located in the "Central Coast" of California. It's about 90 miles south of San Francisco and 45 miles south of San Jose, the southern part of Silicon Valley.
The City of Monterey, the namesake city for the county, is a small waterfront town that is similar in concept to Annapolis MD but not remotely historic in any comparable way. There is a lot of Military Education Facitilies there, like Annapolis. Fort Ord used to be nearby in the Marina and Seaside area before it closed, but that entire coastal section is not like an Academy town at all.
Monterey County has about 440,000 Citizens. Approximately 75% of those (330,000) live in 12 incorporated areas . The other 110,000 live in the unincorporated part of Monterey County. The incorproated areas around Monterey have names some may be familiar with including Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Carmel Valley, Carmel by the Sea (just Carmel), Seaside, Marina, and Salinas.
For management, the county is divided into 5 districts and this is the standard for ALL California Counties that was established 150+ years ago.
Each Districit has a District Supervisor that is elected for management. Part of this reporting is intended to expose systemic concerns about this setup which may or may not have worked in the past, but seems to have really fallen behind with needs as society has changed.
The influx of technology combined with consolidation of courts to areas non-proximate to many residents and loss of local newspaper coverage has potentally made these system ripe for fraud in ways that was not even fathomed prior to the 1980s due to local focus on everything.
The supervisors are responsible for all aspects of management of the unincorporated areas of their district and they seem to provide varying levels of support to the leaders of the incorporated areas.
There are 5 supervisors for LA now each managing about 2 million people with a small office staff compared to the same managing 440,000 in Monterey County, as a point of disparate comparison.
The Supervisors serve 4 year terms and it seems about half of them are often assistants to prior supervisors prior to their own election.
The 5 current supervisors are shown below with their current contact information.
Monterey County has an operating budget of 1.8 Billion Dollars.
As the new District 2 Supervisor as of the 2022 election cycle, Glenn Church stated the Supervisors currently have Executive, Legislative, and some Judicial Duties for the entire county.
This is inclusive of some overlap for the incorporated areas, as well leadership for the non-incorporated areas and their pay rivals that of Supreme Court justices, in the $180,000 per year range.
That's a lot of money to budget, that's a big paycheck for areas that are not heavy on a lot of other economic activity these days due to corporitzation of agriculture and a lot of other industries.
That's a lot of power in the hands of few when looked at properly -- and the way the Brown Act limits them in some ways creates n incredibly complex dynamic.
Is there any requirement for each of them to be literate in bookkeeping, accounting or finance to be responsible at a top level for all that money?
Is there any requirement for each of them to be literate in management of others to be responsible managers of the employees of the County? Monterey County has 5000 employees for example.
Is there any requirement for each of them to be legally literate enough to be responsible for the creation of laws and ordinances for the County?
Is there a Judicial Committee that ensures they don't create new laws that violate basic laws already in existence?
What about Communication?
Do they have to be email literate, do they know about retention of emails and do they understand they are not to share passwords and do ghost writing for each other in ways they would not or could not claim if challenged?
Five people ultimately responsible for $1.8 Billion dollars who are being paid a hefty wage they could not easily earn any other way -- and are limited in communicating with each other in odd ways -- and who are not bound to each other or their constituents by a unifying ethnic or religious connection seems like it could be a recipe for disaster, and one of the goals of this publishing series is to put those concerns to the test.
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