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Spring/Summer 2003
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Napa County’s New CEO Seems Ideally
By Kathie Fowler
Bill Chiat has come a long way from wearing the uniform of a Minnesota Park Ranger in the mid 80’s to being appointed Napa County’s new Chief Executive Officer on March 3rd of this year. Answerable only to the Board of Supervisors, Chiat is responsible for the overall management and direction of county government, including its 17 departments, 1400 employees and an annual budget of $200 million. The scope of this job would be daunting enough in a county without Napa’s thorny land use problems, but here Mr. Chiat is faced with many strong and competing opinions on the subjects of watershed protection, stream and river setbacks, hillside plantings, erosion control and river restoration -- to name just a few of the issues currently being addressed by both environmentalists and the wine industry. He is aware of the discord between the two factions, and it is surely no accident that his professional background includes extensive experience mediating between rival interest groups. Having most recently served as Deputy County Administrator for Santa Barbara County, he is familiar with land use controversy. One of the most publicized disputes was sparked by a grapegrower clearcutting hundreds of acres of oak trees along Hwy. 101. “Private property owners, grapegrowers and environmentalists were demanding to be heard,” Chiat recalls. “And it was my job to facilitate a dialogue among all of them. It went on for a year and a half, and it was fascinating to observe that when people were able to step away from their entrenched positions and simply talk about their interests, other options and possible solutions would appear.” To Napa residents, however, the outcome of these negotiations sounds all too familiar. (See Tom Shelton’s article describing the Timber Harvest Initiative scheduled for the March 2004 ballot in Napa County.) “We got very close to a consensus,” Chiat reports. “But fringe elements put opposing initiatives on the ballot, both of which failed. So we had to go back to the Board of Supervisors, who facilitated a public process that four members of the Board ultimately voted for. Was everyone happy? No. Did we reach a consensus? No. But in actuality, the solution was not that far removed from the one we had originally proposed.” Chiat seems completely at home facilitating such complex negotiations. “Having formal authority over people is not what’s important to me,” he explains. “My goal is to get people to want to listen to each other and become willing to work together. Ordering people to change is not nearly as effective as getting them to want it on their own. And if you can create a non-antagonistic atmosphere to discuss these things, often you discover that opposing viewpoints are really not so far apart. The hillside vineyard owner doesn’t want his land impacted by erosion any more than the environmentalist does. It’s my job to determine if it’s possible to accommodate both interests. If it’s not, then we go to our elected officials and let them make the call.” At a recent stream setback hearing, which was attended by private landowners, contractors, realtors, environmentalists and grapegrowers, all with strong opinions about how many feet from a riverbank or stream-bed a new vineyard should be planted, a home constructed, or an old vineyard replanted, Chiat was impressed. “Everyone was dignified and respectful in stating their opinions. People had interrupted their day and contributed their time and resources to sitting through a two to three hour hearing. Would we rather live in a place where no one cared?” The question is a good one, and gives rise to asking Chiat where he personally stands on the subject of land use and the environment. “Given my background as a field biologist, park ranger, and environmental education instructor, it would be logical to assume I was more pro-environmental. But my personal feelings are totally irrelevant here. My job is to bring people together, define the problems, and find solutions. The Napa County Board of Supervisors determines policy. My job is to provide them with the best data and recommendations that I can. What I personally bring to this job is life experience that will hopefully be relevant to the particular problems facing Napa.” And why did he come to Napa? “That’s easy. On all of planet earth, Santa Barbara, Napa and possibly Sonoma are my three favorite places. When I was offered the job of Napa County Executive Officer, the biggest challenge was not whether to move, but how to transport my 450-bottle wine cellar! My partner and I ended up renting a U-Haul and doing it ourselves -- and we didn’t break a single bottle.” Although Chiat’s initial academic schooling was in the sciences (he holds a B.S. in Field Biology from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan), he also holds a Masters in Business Communications from the University of St. Thomas (1988), completed the intensive Senior Executive Program in State & Local Government at Harvard (1999) and graduated from The Art & Practice of Leadership Development from the John F. Kennedy School of Govt. at Harvard (2002). He is clearly impassioned on the subject of government and how to govern. “There are tremendous pressures being placed on Napa’s resources as more people move here. It’s requiring all of us -- politicians, grapegrowers, environmentalists, property owners -- to look at issues we didn’t even know existed. “I don’t have any answers personally, but together we can figure it out and find the answers. There’s no textbook that tells us how. We just have to muddle through. And it’s no accident that our system of democracy was designed this way. The process of change may be slow and convoluted, but it’s what makes democracy successful. The whole system works by accommodation. On a day-to-day basis this can be difficult and frustrating and we may not like it. But over 200 years we probably like it a lot. “I believe in the democratic system, and I believe that working within this system, I can make a difference. One of my favorite quotes is an inscription on Thomas Jefferson’s Memorial: ‘We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.’ “Change is inevitable, and hopefully I can bring a breath of fresh air to the table as the county deals with the issues before it. But the only way I will be successful in this community is if we can work together. I can’t do it alone.” At the time of this writing, Bill Chiat had been the new County Executive Officer for all of six weeks. We made a date for a year from now to reflect back on the challenges faced and the progress made in a job that places him right in the middle of environmental issues engaging not just Napa’s tiny population, but much of the world in general. It should make interesting reading. |
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