Citing threats, DWP seeks to spend up to $700,000 on private security for CEO
The five-member Board of Water and Power Commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to approve the one-year private security contract for the CEO and chief engineer, Janisse Quiñones.
In the wake of the Palisades fire, DWP received criticism for diminished water pressure in some hydrants and for the Santa Ynez Reservoir sitting empty for nearly a year while awaiting a repair estimated to cost about $130,000.
Read more: This reservoir was built to save Pacific Palisades. It was empty when the flames came
Quiñones, who took over as chief executive of the nation's largest municipal utility in May, came under increasingly personal attacks online that assailed her $750,000 salary and denigrated her as a "DEI hire" for her Puerto Rican roots.
Quiñones addressed some of the commentary about her background at a DWP commission meeting last month, suggesting her critics had ignored her qualifications in order to fuel an agenda. She highlighted her decades running emergency management for the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Not only do I have 20 years plus serving this country, I also have a mechanical engineering degree that I graduated with honors. I have two graduate degrees," she said. "And I happen to like to get tough jobs, and this is a tough job."
Quiñones' salary is in line with top executives' salaries at the Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, according to public records.
A DWP spokesperson said the utility began soliciting proposals for private security to protect Quiñones before the Jan. 7 fire. Around that time, companies across the U.S. began boosting security after the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was slain outside a New York hotel in December.
In the days after the wildfire erupted, vitriol against her intensified.
The utility said it "has received numerous threats" to Quiñones' personal safety, adding that some "have required direct intervention by law enforcement." The nature of those threats and police "intervention" are unclear. DWP officials did not elaborate, but a spokesperson said, "All threats were reported to LAPD." Police officials also declined to disclose any details about the alleged threats.
Read more: New head of L.A. DWP will make $750,000 a year — nearly twice as much as her predecessor
'We don't comment on potential threats or ongoing investigations,' said Jennifer Forkish, LAPD communications director.
An L.A. County district attorney's spokesperson said that no case has been presented to the office relating to threats to Quiñones. A spokesperson for L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein-Soto did not answer whether any misdemeanor charges were filed.
Under the agreement pending before the mayor-appointed DWP commissioners, Quiñones would receive protection from Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, with at least one designated armed security agent and a driver.
The contract, which would permit up to $703,577 in spending, was issued on a single-source basis, although DWP said it received two other proposals that were far more expensive.
The firm "will provide security agents trained in personal safety, defensive tactics, travel security, and surveillance on an as-needed basis," according to a memo on the agreement. The firm's agents have military or surveillance backgrounds, including the special forces.
The move to private security partially alleviates a strain on LAPD resources. Quiñones initially received protection from L.A. Airport Police after the Palisades fire broke out. She was then provided a detail of LAPD officers who also were protecting then-L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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