Sutter County a training ground for El Dorado

By Lake Tahoe News

Another former Sutter County employee is about to be on the payroll for El Dorado County.

Marco Sandoval has been Sutter’s risk manager since 2008 and will have the same title with El Dorado County. Prior to being hired by Sutter County Sandoval was in the private sector doing the same type of work.

Sandoval and Larry Combs, interim CAO for El Dorado County, worked together in Sutter County.

Combs started with El Dorado last summer in what was supposed to be a stint for less than one year. It wasn’t until January that a company was hired to find a permanent CAO. These searches often take several months.

Combs brought in Shawne Corley this year to be assistant chief administrative officer. She had that same title at Sutter for 13 years.

It was Pamela Knorr as acting CAO who recommenced Combs to the Board of Supervisors. Knorr is the human resources director for El Dorado. They knew each other through a statewide association of counties.

There was never any background check done on Knorr. She had been fired as CAO in Alpine County before getting her job with El Dorado County. She was the one responsible for doing the background check on her friend Combs.

Sutter is a really small county so even though it may seem like a lateral move with these jobs, this is a promotion because of size and complexities of issues.

Combs actually came out of retirement for this position. El Dorado County is the largest county he has worked for.