Timeline for picking interim DA nailed down by Alameda County supes

(BCN) -- The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday laid out a process for appointing an interim district attorney to replace Pamela Price, who was recalled from office in last month's election. In a unanimous vote, supervisors committed to a public application, interview and selection process that would ideally end, at the latest, in the first week of February with the formal appointment and swearing in of a new district attorney.

The whole thing kicks off Wednesday, when the application process starts. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 6 at 5 p.m.

Then, during the week of Jan. 13, the board is scheduled to pick finalists from the applicants during a not yet scheduled public meeting. After that, during the week of Jan. 20, the supervisors will conduct candidate interviews, which will also happen during public meetings.

Supervisors are then expected to deliberate publicly and make their final selection the week of Jan. 27, with the intention of getting the new interim district attorney into the office by no later than Feb. 4.

"There will be at least four occasions, counting today, when the public can weigh in," said Supervisor Nate Miley. "So this will be very transparent and open."

"All the applications will be public," Miley said.

The whole process was originally proposed to end a week earlier than what the supervisors ultimately decided on, but during a long public comment period, several people asked that the application and interview process be extended to account for the upcoming holidays and allow the public more time to review candidates.

The new timeline also allows incoming Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas to participate in more of the process when she takes office on Jan. 6 and for Supervisor David Haubert to take over as board president. Whoever the board selects will only serve until the next regularly scheduled election in 2026.

The winner of that election will serve the rest of Price's term, which was extended to 2028 by a recent change in state law to line up elections for district attorneys and sheriffs with the presidential election.

The new interim district attorney will replace Royl Roberts, who took over the office after Price departed last week, having lost the Nov. 5 recall election with only about 37 percent supporting her compared to 63 percent voting yes to recalling her.

During a full day of one-on-one interviews with local media outlets Monday, Roberts hinted that he might apply to be his own replacement.

"It's a possibility," he said. "Ultimately, you know, I want to do what is best for Alameda County and I think over my past two years serving in this office, I've had an opportunity to meet the people working here, I know the office, know the locations and been intimately involved in the budget process."

Roberts also made it clear that his priorities aren't necessarily the same as Price's, who won her seat with about 53 percent of the vote by running on a criminal justice reform platform. He said he will be focused on improving public safety with an emphasis on the rights of victims and witnesses.

"What I am paying attention to is the realization that being safe and feeling safe, you know, may be two different things, but they are equally as important," he said. "And I do think that it's important to recognize that the public has spoken, so there may need to be changes in the way we move forward and really not shy away from that responsibility."

Roberts appeared eager to make his presence felt as soon as possible and said that last Thursday evening he appointed three new chiefs of prosecution who together have 83 years of prosecutorial experience.

He also said he'd be working with his senior staff to conduct a kind of "forensic examination" of existing district attorney policies "to see if they are things that actually made the community safer."

"I do plan on guiding the team to take a close look at some of those policies and procedures," Roberts said.

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