LOS ANGELES – L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva laid bare his thoughts in a Facebook live video about what was to be a March 31 vote by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors:

“There is a time and a place when we can take this on, this is after the pandemic, but now is not the time nor the place to entertain this motion” said Sheriff Villanueva on a Facebook Live video.

The motion, agenda item 61 is an urgency ordinance that among others, specifies that the Chief Executive Officer is responsible for coordinating the county’s activities relating to emergency operations, something that the sheriff had done in the past.

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“This radical gutting of the emergency services code in light of the worldwide pandemic is irresponsible, a brazen attempt to consolidate power with the board of supervisors,” said the sheriff.

But Supervisor Sheila Kuehl says the move is tied to the Woolsey Fire Action Report, which determined that during emergencies better coordination is needed among agencies.

“This is up to us to figure out in every emergency who can coordinate the best and given the health aspect, the building aspect, the housing aspect, the homelessness aspect, the DCBA aspect, all of it; this is not correct to go just under law enforcement.”

But it raises questions about the timing of the move in the middle of a pandemic. In press conference Supervisor Barger tried to put the public at ease.

“Timing is not the best, but from the standpoint of public safety and the impact it’s going to have as it relates to how we are responding to this, I’m confident that there will be no change in how we are working together to address that.”

The sheriff insists, it is personal.

 

 

 

“Your well documented opposition to both my candidacy for sheriff and my entire tenure in office as sheriff is worth noting. We are dealing with life and death questions and decisions about what we do and how we do it, the last thing you want in the world is to have voices that have a different point of view silenced and that is exactly what you’re trying to achieve here.”

Despite the sheriff’s objections, the board voted unanimously to approve the ordinance. The county’s CEO will now be responsible for coordinating activities related to emergencies.