photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office pictured in August 2022.

IOLERO, Sonoma County's Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, has a new boss, at least for now.

Matthew Chavez, IOLERO's new interim director is a familiar face within the watchdog agency.

He's has worked as an oversight auditor at IOLERO since 2022.

"Well, I would say that the goal is to make sure that the office continues to to perform the audits and investigations in its core functions without interruption so that when a permanent director comes on board, they'll have a smooth operating organization," Chavez said on Friday, June 12th, his first day as director.

Chavez takes over from the now-departed John Alden.

Alden, who also joined the oversight agency in 2022, left his role at IOLERO in late May to take over a similar law enforcement oversight position in Marin County, becoming its first sheriff inspector general.

In a June 11th letter to IOLERO staff, Sonoma County Executive David Guhin said the county will soon start a nationwide recruitment for IOLERO's next permanent director.

Guhin also said Sonoma County supervisors will not go forward with a ballot measure to change Measure P.

That's the 2020 ballot measure passed by local voters that expanded authority for IOLERO.

1st District Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo had floated the idea of putting amendments to Measure P before county voters in November, a move that concerned some law enforcement oversight advocates.

In his letter to IOLERO staff, Guhin said the board of supervisors, "believes IOLERO’s work to fully implement Measure P as written can be accomplished through stronger collaboration, and operational improvements among IOLERO, the Sheriff's Office and County leadership."

IOLERO and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office have persistently clashed in court over the roll out of Measure P and IOLERO's oversight powers, after the measure was approved with almost 65% support in 2020.