Members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors publicly called out the county’s clerk-recorder-assessor during yearly budget workshops after he did not attend in person.

Some of the supervisors questioned Joe Holland’s ability to remotely run the office long term after he was the only department head to give his budget presentation from home over Zoom on April 15.

Holland has been working remotely for 18 months and is running for another term as the county’s clerk-recorder-assessor-registrar of voters.

Holland was first elected to the post in 2002 and has worked at the county since 1984.

All five board supervisors have endorsed challenger Melinda Greene, chief deputy clerk-recorder, for the elected department head position in the June election.

Supervisors aired some of their concerns during the budget workshop by questioning how Holland was effectively running his department and why he did not attend the Santa Barbara meeting.

After some technical confusion over slides for the presentation, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson told Holland he was disappointed that Holland was not present for the workshop.

“I am a little disappointed that you weren’t able to make it here in person, or … let us know in advance,” Nelson said. “I know we asked all the department heads to be here in person, and maybe that might have gone a little smoother.”

Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann also asked Holland how he is running his office and asked how long he had been working remotely.

Holland informed the board that he has been working from home for about 18 months and that he is dealing with medical issues. He told supervisors he can and has run his department from home, and that his staff can reach him any time.

Hartmann acknowledged that department staff can call Holland but questioned whether he is able to proactively run the different offices in his department. The department manages three divisions: the clerk-recorder, the assessor and the elections office. 

“I’m proactively reaching out to them, and they can proactively reach out to me anytime they want,” Holland told the board.

Holland told Noozhawk that even though he is working from home, the department is functioning properly. He added that he and his staff were able to run the 2024 primary election, the 2024 general election and the 2025 special election for the state redistricting measure. 

“I ran all three of those elections, and I did it from home,” Holland said.

He added that since he began working from home, he has not taken any vacations and has been available during the entire 18 months.

Holland acknowledged that the current situation is not ideal. He told Noozhawk he is going through physical therapy and plans to return to his office within a few weeks. He added that many people now work remotely. 

He also said his time with the county and experience running elections give him the ability to run the office efficiently from home. 

“I would much prefer to be in the office and see the employees that are working there,” Holland said. “I’m still able to manage it and manage it at a high level.”

Greene works as the county’s chief deputy clerk-recorder and is challenging Holland for the seat in the June 2 election.

She has worked at the county for nearly 30 years in different roles, including accountant, auditor, budget analyst, project manager and IT project manager. 

The elected clerk-recorder-assessor-registrar of voters has an annual salary of $275,511, according to Santa Barbara County.

Check back with Noozhawk for more election coverage, including profiles of the candidates running for clerk-recorder-assessor and other positions.