Shasta County HHSA Has Hired a New CFO. She will Replace the County’s First, Who Lasted Only Two Months.

This month, Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) welcomed a new employee. Vicki Thompson was hired to lead HHSA’s financial team as the Agency’s new Chief Fiscal Officer (CFO). She holds a masters degree in economic development and a bachelor’s degree in international business management. 

While the County’s press release on the subject describes the role as “newly created,” the position was actually implemented almost a year ago after a vote of County Supervisors. Last May, the Agency hired its first CFO, Rahsaan Dean. He lasted only two months in the role, leaving in July 2024.

The County has never commented on Dean’s departure but the former CFO told Shasta Scout last year that he was fired only a day after raising concerns about financial discrepancies that he had noticed at the Agency. Dean said he filed a report with the State soon after leaving his job at HHSA, but has not provided specifics on what financial issues led him to take action. 

In today’s press release, new CFO Thompson is described as an “experienced accounting and operations officer” with eleven years of background in “corporate controller” roles, most recently in “evaluating the effectiveness of the use of public funds in Alaska through a subcontract of the Economic Development Administration.” Thompson’s other accounting and operations experience, the County said, includes seven years leading financial and administrative operations for a “rural golf-course community and real estate developer.”

“I am observant and determined,” Thompson said via press release. “I value integrity, people, and things working well together.”

HHSA has a budget of about $300 million, which is used to operate more than 100 programs and employ more than 1,000 staff. Questions about financial management have repeatedly plagued the Agency over the last few years.

Laura Burch was appointed as HHSA’s director in late 2022. She’s overseen the creation of several key positions at the Agency and the resignation or retirements of a number of department heads. The newly-formed role of Assistant Director of HHSA went to Christy Coleman, a former coworker of Burch’s at the County’s Child Support Services department.

In September – nine days after Shasta Scout published an interview with former CFO Dean and just one day after now-Supervisor Matt Plummer called for an audit of HHSA – Burch stepped away from the Agency on medical leave. She’s been gone for seven months. Burch’s second-in-command, Coleman, is currently serving as Acting Director of the Agency. 

Financial Complexities

In May of 2024, shortly before former CFO Dean joined the Agency, County CEO David Rickert told Shasta Scout that the Agency wasn’t where he wanted it to be when it came to financial management, in part because of the high mid-level staff turnover, a situation which has left HHSA with relatively little financial management experience.

During last year’s budget hearings in June, the now-absent Burch painted a grim picture of HHSA’s financial future. She warned that downturns in the economy and proposed state budget cuts are coinciding with an increasing local demand for services, particularly assistance with food, jobs and housing. 

Burch also said salary costs had risen $29 million over the last fiscal year, despite a net reduction of eighty-one positions, a situation likely exacerbated by Burch’s decision to create new management positions, including the roles of Acting HHSA Director and CFO.

Top management salaries aren’t cheap. Burch’s salary costs the County $288,000 annually, according to information provided by Transparent California. Coleman, the Acting Director who’s serving in Burch’s place while she’s on medical leave, costs the County $158,000 a year. Both numbers include benefit costs. The County did not share CFO Thompson’s exact salary, instead indicating that the position “includes a compensation range of $97,464 to $124,392 annually.”

The new CFO will report to Erin Watts who, as HHSA’s Administrative Branch Director, manages fiscal planning, contracts, assets, audits, community relations, and medical billing. Watts’ stepped into her new role after working as a program manager for Child Support Services, a position which required relatively little financial background.

Last month, Administrative Branch Director Watts appeared in front of the County Board to ask for a loan of $10.5 million from the County’s general fund. The money was needed, she said, in order to pay a state bill related to one of HHSA’s core programs. She’s promised HHSA will repay the loan by June 30.

It’s not the first sign of concern. In 2024, HHSA managers appeared before supervisors twice to ask for approval of budgetary adjustments totaling about $18M, some of which were not brought to supervisors’ attention for more than a year. The year before that, in 2023, HHSA received a legal warning from a State agency after failing to turn over $4 million in NorCal Continuum of Care funds to the City of Redding in a timely manner.

Supervisor Plummer, who forcefully advocated for more accountability at HHSA last year, told Shasta Scout today that he isn’t currently pushing for an internal audit of the department. He said its not the right time with the County gearing up for budget hearings, a process that requires significant preparations for all departments.

For now, Plummer said, he’s focused on proactive measures like encouraging the establishment of financial dashboards for the Department, and piloting program-based budgets, a process which involves forecasting not only how much each program will spend but what the money will accomplish.

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