Longtime county official to retire

Mike Henry, Los Angeles County’s human resources director, said in an interview Tuesday that he will retire in March.

Henry has worked for the county for 32 years and has led the department since 1994. He is credited with building the department from a smaller office into a full-size department, but he has also been criticized in recent years for instances in which the county failed to properly manage its workforce.

In recent months, he acknowledged that many participants in the county’s student worker program had worked for years without attending any classes.

Additionally, the county’s chief executive, William T Fujioka, was forced to form a “strike team” to address significant numbers of employees with lengthy, unexplained absences.

Henry said the decision to leave was his own and he plans to dedicate his time to nonprofit work and continue to sit on the board of councilors for USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development.

-- Garrett Therolf