LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County's new sheriff said Thursday that he's now completed putting in place his command staff.

A little over three weeks after his taking office, Sheriff Frank Rivero said that reassignments of his command and management staff are complete.

Rivero's command structure maintains the chief of staff position, which is held by Capt. Rob Howe, who also served as chief of staff under Rivero's predecessor, Rod Mitchell.

The next level of administration has three captain spots and one civilian administrator.

They include Howe, who in addition to his chief of staff duties is operations division commander; Capt. James Bauman, professional standards division commander and the department's public information officer; Capt. Crystal Esberg, custody division commander; and Mary Beth Strong, finance and administration manager, whose financial acumen won her a state award last year, as Lake County News has reported.

Next in line to the captains are the sheriff's lieutenants.

They are Chris Macedo, enforcement; Dave Perry, communications; Brian Martin, professional standards; and Vincent Monreal, custody.

In December the Board of Supervisors approved creating an undersheriff position, which Rivero said at the time he intended to hire former sheriff's candidate Jack Baxter to fill.

However, earlier this month Rivero said Baxter was disqualified from the hiring process, and that the undersheriff position would be filled by recruitment at a future time.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .