Riverside Official Named New Sacramento County Executive

Sacramento County's new CEO will be Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson, officials announced Wednesday.

Hudson, who has been Riverside's city manager since 2005 and an employee of that county for 14 years, will serve as a formal replacement for Sacramento County Executive Terry Schutten, who retired in 2009 and was replaced by Interim County Executive Steve Szalay.

“We wanted someone who was a leader and had a track record of stimulating economic growth, successfully balancing budgets as well as managing people,” Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan said in a press release [PDF].

The board of supervisors had narrowed their choices down to five candidates, the release said.

The release praised Riverside programs that shared resources between the city and county, as well as Riverside Renaissance, a "$1.57 billion capital improvement program designed to construct 30 years of improvements in five years which is 90 percent complete."

Hudson said he doesn't automatically equate budget cuts to reductions in services.

“Strong management, motivated employees and innovation can overcome the challenges of a budget cut," Hudson was quoted as saying. "Sacramento County offers a lot of challenges, but I don’t believe in placing the burden of budget problems on individual employees or the citizens we serve while there are other options available.”

Hudson will be paid a base salary of $258,000 and will start work on Aug. 14, the Sacramento Bee reported.