LOS ANGELES – The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is taking steps to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva as the county’s director of emergency operations. 

Villanueva says it’s a poorly-timed “power grab” at a time when the county is facing an unprecedented pandemic. During a press conference Thursday afternoon, he said the action endangers public safety.

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“This type of attempt or transition puts everyone in peril. And that’s not fear-mongering that’s just a fact,” he said. 

During the public address, Villanueva referred to a PowerPoint presentation, appearing to fight for his position and defend his experience in law enforcement as the right prerequisite to lead emergency operations.

“It definitely is about power, it has nothing to do with somehow making emergency management better,” he said.   

On March 31, the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to change an ordinance that appointed the sheriff to the top spot of the Emergency Operations Center and shift that responsibility to the county’s Office of Emergency Management. 

During a public health press conference Thursday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger was asked about the move and expressed surprise over Villanueva’s public statements. 

“Now’s not the time to argue about who’s in charge,” she said. 

Barger said action has been on the board agenda since earlier this month and stems from an independent audit of the county’s response to the deadly Woolsey fire of 2018. That audit recommended changes to emergency operations last fall.

“It’s been in the workings for months and in fact, I know that the sheriff was given an opportunity to provide input when this first came to the board in November,” she said. 

“They’re trying to use the Woolsey fire as their Trojan horse,” Villanueva said. 

These are the latest tensions in the ongoing power struggle between Villanueva and the board of supervisors. Last week when Spectrum News 1’s Giselle Fernandez asked the Sheriff about the matter, he said the parties were moving toward being on the same page.

“We’re about 95 percent there. Ninety-five percent of the county departments and all of the entities at the command post are working collectively,” he said. 

But Thursday, Villanueva’s tone appeared more defiant, even calling out city and county leaders through photographers for standing on podiums thanking each other in the midst of this pandemic. 

“I’d say let’s stop the thanking each other and focus on the task at hand,” he said.

The next Board of Supervisors meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31.

This matter can be found under Item 61 in the meeting’s agenda:  bos.lacounty.gov/LinkClick