A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit brought by retired Sonoma County government employees claiming the Board of Supervisors reneged on a pledge to provide lifetime health benefits.

Bob Deis won’t be leaving Stockton after all. Deis, who quit his job as Sonoma County’s top administrator in 2009 and became city manager in Stockton one year later, has withdrawn plans to resign just two years into his five-year contract. The city’s mayor compared the relationship between Deis and the council to a marriage: “You give and take and figure out how to move forward for the good of the city.”

Bob Deis, who resigned as Sonoma County’s top administrator in 2009 because he could not work with a fractured Board of Supervisors, has quit his job as city manager in Stockton. His 20-month tenure had been marked by battles with employees that got very personal. One union bought the house next door to Deis’ home and began a noisy remodeling project, a tactic he believed was designed to intimidate him.

Valerie Brown’s surprise decision not to seek re-election to the Board of Supervisors means Sonoma County will have seen almost a complete turnover in leadership over a four-year period. Change is good, but is this too much at one time?

Bob Deis, the former chief administrator for Sonoma County, is probably not missing his old job these days. But Deis, now city manager of Stockton, has his own issues to deal with. Recently, Forbes ranked Stockton as the “Most Miserable Large Town in America.”

It was a day of celebration at the Sonoma County offices Tuesday as two new supervisors were sworn in. But the question remains, who will emerge as the true fiscal leaders on this new board now that those behind the county’s last major reform attempt – the health benefits rollback – are all gone amid controversy.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Sonoma County government retirees over a controversial rollback in contributions to their health care premiums. The Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees claimed in a lawsuit last year that the county reneged on a contractual promise in 2008 when it began forcing retirees to pay an increasing share of premium costs. It plans to appeal.

Former Sonoma County administrator Bob Deis, who resigned last year rather than deal with an increasingly fractured Board of Supervisors, is taking a new job. See where he landed.