Latest news with #BoardofSupervisors
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Public hearing set for today on amended solar ordinance in Tazewell County
tazewell, va. — A public hearing has been scheduled for today on an amended ordinance pertaining to a large-scale solar energy project for Tazewell County. The public hearing stems from a proposed solar energy project in the Southern District of Tazewell County. Today's public hearing is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. before the county Board of Supervisors and will be held at the Tazewell County Administration Building located at 197 Main St., Tazewell. The supervisors passed an ordinance last year pertaining to solar energy facilities in the county. That ordinance requires that potential large-scale solar energy facility operators provide to the board and the Tazewell County Planning Commission a list of 21 specific documents prior to approval of any large-scale solar energy facility. The amended ordinance also requires Material Safety Data Sheets and Product Safety Data Sheets concerning any potential exposure to hazardous chemicals, according to a legal advertisement that appeared in the May 30 edition of the Daily Telegraph. Tazewell County Administrator Eric Young said the amended solar energy facilities ordinance was initiated by the county's planning commission. 'What this would do would simply require the company that was installing the solar panels to provide a data sheet containing the component and chemical composition of the components,' Young said. Young said the amended ordinance is in response to potential environmental concerns associated with the proposed project. The solar energy project is planned at a site not far from the Cavitt's Creek Recreation Area, which is also near the municipal limits of the town of Tazewell. The solar energy project is still in the planning stages and the developer has not yet applied for a building permit, according to Young. As currently proposed, the project would generate almost a quarter of a million dollars a year in annual tax revenue for Tazewell County. At least one full-time job would also be created to oversee and make sure the solar panels are functioning correctly. 'It's actually two separate projects that will be done in stages over the years,' Young said. 'The tax revenue would be about $240,000 a year for us, which would be significant.' Contact Charles Owens at cowens@
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What will it take to run America's biggest county?
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles is waiting for its George Washington. Last year, voters across an area more populous than all but ten states decided to create a new office to oversee their government. Now comes the hard part: determining the scope of a position that will, by representing the nearly 10 million people of Los Angeles County, become perhaps the most powerful in American local government and immediately reshape California politics. Now it is time to decide how much unchecked authority should be vested in an office being designed from scratch. Many of the tricky issues concern the interplay between the new executive — who will have the final say over the county's nearly $50 billion budget and the ability to hire and fire heads of dozens of county-wide departments — and the existing Board of Supervisors, who have long held those powers for themselves. 'It's a fundamental change to the culture of county government because it's pulling the executive authority out of the Board of Supervisors. And the question is, how do you do that?' said Raphael Sonenshein, who headed a Los Angeles city charter reform commission in the 1990s and is now executive director of the Haynes Foundation. 'People are only now beginning to think about what an important design question it is.' Members of a 13-member task force met for the first time Friday to begin the three-year process of redrawing how the county is governed, which will also include creating an ethics commission and adding four new supervisors' districts. But their biggest challenge revolves around setting up the county executive role in time for it to be filled by voters in November 2028 in an election that is likely to draw a slew of ambitious politicians, civic figures and business leaders from the country's second-largest metropolitan area. Elected county executives are common around the country — helping to administer areas encompassing such major cities as Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami and Seattle — but remain a novel concept in California. Since the mid-19th century, local governments across the state's 58 counties have been led by five-member boards of supervisors without an elected role above them. 'It doesn't take rocket science to know how politicized [the county executive role] will be,' said Drexel Heard, a former executive director of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 'That person will absolutely become the most powerful person in Southern California.' For decades, reformers have been looking to reshape the Board of Supervisors, which has long faced criticism for its lack of accountability. Known as the 'five little kings' — or more recently, the 'five little queens' — each member now represents around two million constituents, the size of approximately three congressional districts. But reform efforts either fizzled out before making it to the ballot or were rejected by voters. Things changed last summer, when three of the current five supervisors moved forward with Measure G, a charter amendment that rode a wave of public concern about corruption in the region's local government to win a narrow victory in November. 'LA County has long been governed under a system that I believe no longer reflects the realities that we face today,' Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who spearheaded the drafting of Measure G and campaign to pass it, said at the task force's inaugural meeting on Friday. 'I want to thank the voters of Los Angeles County who decided that this reform was necessary and made it happen, because all of us want to see change in how we do this work.' During last fall's campaign, the main critics of Measure G noted that it wasn't clear what kind of meaningful checks and balances there would be on the new executive. LA County already has an appointed CEO who manages the budget, a professional administrator who serves at the board's pleasure. The new post, however, would be directly elected by voters to a four-year term. (The CEO job will likely disappear.) 'Until now, you had a culture where the board could give the executive as much authority as they wanted to give the executive,' said Sonenshein. 'With the elected executive, they're not going to have that option. It'll be an office that stands on its own.' Measure G laid out many of the new executive's responsibilities, including to approve the budget and oversee county departments that run health clinics, jails, parks, foster-care services, beaches, libraries and more. In unincorporated areas of Los Angeles, county government also provides police and fire services and sets land-use policy. But much about the executive's role has yet to be determined. 'They couldn't write every single thing into the charter amendment — it would have been a mistake to try to do that, because they would have left something out,' said former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who served on the board from 1994 to 2014 and is now the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. 'So they did the broad-brush stuff ... but they still need to address the details. And there are a lot of details.' That responsibility falls to a task force of 13 members, a motley bunch that includes West Covina's former mayor, the president of an SEIU local, a North Long Beach pastor, a Pomona College political scientist and a digital-marketing executive who has worked on influencer campaigns for Google Play and Taco Bell. Five of the task force's members were appointed by the current board (one from each sitting supervisor) and three by labor unions, with five at-large members chosen from among residents who applied. They will have to decide how much authority individual supervisors retain over services within their districts and how much is transferred to the executive. It will also determine how many jobs and appointments the new office will control, from the hundreds of staffers currently working for the CEO, to board seats — on everything from the LA Metro transit authority to the regional air quality board — currently filled by supervisors. The biggest looming constitutional question may involve the executive's veto power. While the text of the measure states that the executive can reject any motion or legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors, it doesn't specify whether the board has the ability to override that veto. 'Let's say you had a vote on county-wide renter protections, and you've got a board that is in favor of it but a county executive who is not,' said Mike Bonin, director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA and former member of the LA City Council. 'Let's say it's an 8-to-1 vote in favor of it — does the county executive get to veto that and nullify it?' When the new task force met on Friday at the county's Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles, members laid out their big-picture plans for moving forward on different aspects of implementation, starting with the ethics commission. Nothing concrete was decided at the meeting, including even how frequently to convene or meet next. 'It kind of feels like the first day of class,' said David Phelps, a city planning commissioner in the San Fernando Valley who also owns a comic book and collectibles shop, in his introduction at Friday's meeting. 'Thank you for putting that trust in us. I feel the weight and the gravity of this moment — I did not take this lightly.' During the public-comment period, one commenter said he had opposed Measure G because the executive role did not have a listed term limit. 'That's pretty much dictatorship,' he said. 'We don't want somebody in the CEO's position that has higher power than anybody else in the land.' A county executive will be inaugurated in December 2028, and much about the new office will be shaped by how its first occupant chooses to wield the potential symbolic power that accompanies it. Bonin likened it to George Washington setting important precedents for the American presidency, like voluntarily serving just two terms and refusing honorifics like 'His Excellency.' 'I have a hard time imagining that anybody who is going to go through the time, the effort and the indignity of running for office — for an office that represents more people than most governors — is not going to want to assume as much power as possible and make the role as big as possible,' said Bonin. Being able to mold the new office is likely to be a significant draw for plenty of ambitious LA-area politicians and officials who see a post representing one quarter of Californians as a natural stepping stone to a statewide office. Real estate developer Rick Caruso would have the money and name ID to be a formidable contender, although he is known to also be considering a run for governor or mayor, both of which will be on the 2026 ballot. Miguel Santana, the president of the California Community Foundation who has held roles in LA city government overseeing the budget and helping chart homelessness strategy, is also seen as a potential candidate. Members of Congress (like Janice Hahn) and former Cabinet secretaries (like Hilda Solis) have already returned from Washington to run for seats on the Board of Supervisors. Given the partisan gridlock in the U.S. Capitol — and the fact that, with Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff settling in in the U.S. Senate, that it's unlikely either seat would open up any time soon — other Los Angeles-area members of the California delegation might consider coming home for a far more powerful role. Then there are the members of the current board, three of whom are in their final terms. Horvath, a first-term Democrat who led the charge for Measure G, says she 'has given it some thought' but is currently running for reelection and focused on Measure G's implementation. 'There's not a lot of people who run for office who would shy away from the capacity to be the second most powerful elected official in the state of California, just behind the governor,' said Bonin. Regardless of who runs, the new executive role will be a boon for California's political industry. Between that race and those to fill the expanded Board of Supervisors races in 2032, it means a flurry of big, expensive campaigns. 'If you are an LA-based political consultant,' observed Mike Trujillo, an LA-based political consultant, 'you are going to be a kid in a candy shop.'
Politico
2 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
What will it take to run America's biggest county?
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles is waiting for its George Washington. Last year, voters across an area more populous than all but ten states decided to create a new office to oversee their government. Now comes the hard part: determining the scope of a position that will, by representing the nearly 10 million people of Los Angeles County, become perhaps the most powerful in American local government and immediately reshape California politics. Now it is time to decide how much unchecked authority should be vested in an office being designed from scratch. Many of the tricky issues concern the interplay between the new executive — who will have the final say over the county's nearly $50 billion budget and the ability to hire and fire heads of dozens of county-wide departments — and the existing Board of Supervisors, who have long held those powers for themselves. 'It's a fundamental change to the culture of county government because it's pulling the executive authority out of the Board of Supervisors. And the question is, how do you do that?' said Raphael Sonenshein, who headed a Los Angeles city charter reform commission in the 1990s and is now executive director of the Haynes Foundation. 'People are only now beginning to think about what an important design question it is.' Members of a 13-member task force met for the first time Friday to begin the three-year process of redrawing how the county is governed, which will also include creating an ethics commission and adding four new supervisors' districts. But their biggest challenge revolves around setting up the county executive role in time for it to be filled by voters in November 2028 in an election that is likely to draw a slew of ambitious politicians, civic figures and business leaders from the country's second-largest metropolitan area. Elected county executives are common around the country — helping to administer areas encompassing such major cities as Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami and Seattle — but remain a novel concept in California. Since the mid-19th century, local governments across the state's 58 counties have been led by five-member boards of supervisors without an elected role above them. 'It doesn't take rocket science to know how politicized [the county executive role] will be,' said Drexel Heard, a former executive director of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 'That person will absolutely become the most powerful person in Southern California.' For decades, reformers have been looking to reshape the Board of Supervisors, which has long faced criticism for its lack of accountability. Known as the 'five little kings' — or more recently, the 'five little queens' — each member now represents around two million constituents, the size of approximately three congressional districts. But reform efforts either fizzled out before making it to the ballot or were rejected by voters. Things changed last summer, when three of the current five supervisors moved forward with Measure G, a charter amendment that rode a wave of public concern about corruption in the region's local government to win a narrow victory in November. 'LA County has long been governed under a system that I believe no longer reflects the realities that we face today,' Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who spearheaded the drafting of Measure G and campaign to pass it, said at the task force's inaugural meeting on Friday. 'I want to thank the voters of Los Angeles County who decided that this reform was necessary and made it happen, because all of us want to see change in how we do this work.' During last fall's campaign, the main critics of Measure G noted that it wasn't clear what kind of meaningful checks and balances there would be on the new executive. LA County already has an appointed CEO who manages the budget, a professional administrator who serves at the board's pleasure. The new post, however, would be directly elected by voters to a four-year term. (The CEO job will likely disappear.) 'Until now, you had a culture where the board could give the executive as much authority as they wanted to give the executive,' said Sonenshein. 'With the elected executive, they're not going to have that option. It'll be an office that stands on its own.' Measure G laid out many of the new executive's responsibilities, including to approve the budget and oversee county departments that run health clinics, jails, parks, foster-care services, beaches, libraries and more. In unincorporated areas of Los Angeles, county government also provides police and fire services and sets land-use policy. But much about the executive's role has yet to be determined. 'They couldn't write every single thing into the charter amendment — it would have been a mistake to try to do that, because they would have left something out,' said former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who served on the board from 1994 to 2014 and is now the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. 'So they did the broad-brush stuff ... but they still need to address the details. And there are a lot of details.' That responsibility falls to a task force of 13 members, a motley bunch that includes West Covina's former mayor, the president of an SEIU local, a North Long Beach pastor, a Pomona College political scientist and a digital-marketing executive who has worked on influencer campaigns for Google Play and Taco Bell. Five of the task force's members were appointed by the current board (one from each sitting supervisor) and three by labor unions, with five at-large members chosen from among residents who applied. They will have to decide how much authority individual supervisors retain over services within their districts and how much is transferred to the executive. It will also determine how many jobs and appointments the new office will control, from the hundreds of staffers currently working for the CEO, to board seats — on everything from the LA Metro transit authority to the regional air quality board — currently filled by supervisors. The biggest looming constitutional question may involve the executive's veto power. While the text of the measure states that the executive can reject any motion or legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors, it doesn't specify whether the board has the ability to override that veto. 'Let's say you had a vote on county-wide renter protections, and you've got a board that is in favor of it but a county executive who is not,' said Mike Bonin, director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA and former member of the LA City Council. 'Let's say it's an 8-to-1 vote in favor of it — does the county executive get to veto that and nullify it?' When the new task force met on Friday at the county's Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles, members laid out their big-picture plans for moving forward on different aspects of implementation, starting with the ethics commission. Nothing concrete was decided at the meeting, including even how frequently to convene or meet next. 'It kind of feels like the first day of class,' said David Phelps, a city planning commissioner in the San Fernando Valley who also owns a comic book and collectibles shop, in his introduction at Friday's meeting. 'Thank you for putting that trust in us. I feel the weight and the gravity of this moment — I did not take this lightly.' During the public-comment period, one commenter said he had opposed Measure G because the executive role did not have a listed term limit. 'That's pretty much dictatorship,' he said. 'We don't want somebody in the CEO's position that has higher power than anybody else in the land.' A county executive will be inaugurated in December 2028, and much about the new office will be shaped by how its first occupant chooses to wield the potential symbolic power that accompanies it. Bonin likened it to George Washington setting important precedents for the American presidency, like voluntarily serving just two terms and refusing honorifics like 'His Excellency.' 'I have a hard time imagining that anybody who is going to go through the time, the effort and the indignity of running for office — for an office that represents more people than most governors — is not going to want to assume as much power as possible and make the role as big as possible,' said Bonin. Being able to mold the new office is likely to be a significant draw for plenty of ambitious LA-area politicians and officials who see a post representing one quarter of Californians as a natural stepping stone to a statewide office. Real estate developer Rick Caruso would have the money and name ID to be a formidable contender, although he is known to also be considering a run for governor or mayor, both of which will be on the 2026 ballot. Miguel Santana, the president of the California Community Foundation who has held roles in LA city government overseeing the budget and helping chart homelessness strategy, is also seen as a potential candidate. Members of Congress (like Janice Hahn) and former Cabinet secretaries (like Hilda Solis) have already returned from Washington to run for seats on the Board of Supervisors. Given the partisan gridlock in the U.S. Capitol — and the fact that, with Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff settling in in the U.S. Senate, that it's unlikely either seat would open up any time soon — other Los Angeles-area members of the California delegation might consider coming home for a far more powerful role. Then there are the members of the current board, three of whom are in their final terms. Horvath, a first-term Democrat who led the charge for Measure G, says she 'has given it some thought' but is currently running for reelection and focused on Measure G's implementation. 'There's not a lot of people who run for office who would shy away from the capacity to be the second most powerful elected official in the state of California, just behind the governor,' said Bonin. Regardless of who runs, the new executive role will be a boon for California's political industry. Between that race and those to fill the expanded Board of Supervisors races in 2032, it means a flurry of big, expensive campaigns. 'If you are an LA-based political consultant,' observed Mike Trujillo, an LA-based political consultant, 'you are going to be a kid in a candy shop.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SLO County budget cuts slash funding for CASA foster youth mentor program
Even after local high school student and former foster youth Shekhinah Braly was adopted, she still considers Kirsti Tcherkoyan her family. Tcherkoyan was Braly's mentor through San Luis Obispo Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a program that connects foster youth with adult allies. 'Growing up, I never had a supportive family,' Braly wrote in a letter to Tcherkoyan that she read at the Board of Supervisors budget hearing on May 20. ' ... Over time, you became that person for me. You became my family and one of my closest friends.' So when she heard the organization's foster youth mentor program was at risk of being defunded by San Luis Obispo County, she was shocked. 'It's necessary,' Braly, now 18 and a senior at Paso Robles High School, said of the mentor program she was involved in all of high school. 'CASA workers give kids a chance that they didn't know that they could have.' SLO CASA's youth mentor program pairs foster teens like Braly with a volunteer mentor to provide support as they navigate young adulthood, helping them to avoid high risk scenarios for foster youth like homelessness, human trafficking and joblessness. With the support of her CASA mentor, Braly will be the first in her birth family to attend a four-year college next year. 'It gives kids something to believe in,' Braly told The Tribune. 'Especially being in this system, it's so hard to find a connection with someone, to find someone who understands you and can just see you for you.' Now, CASA's foster youth mentor program is slated to lose practically all of its funding as a result of county budget cuts. SLO County budget slashes funding for Growing Grounds program. What to know 'These kids, they deserve a chance,' Tcherkoyan said during public comment at the Board of Supervisors budget hearing on May 20. 'They deserve to have one of me standing next to them, walking with them, getting them into college.' SLO CASA's mentor program serves children who were removed from their homes due to severe abuse and neglect and helps them navigate the child welfare system. The organization currently serves about 80% of kids in the SLO County child welfare system, which is about 160 children, CASA Executive Director Marina Bernheimer told The Tribune. CASA's mentor program, specifically, supported approximately 28 foster youth teens, according to SLO County's fiscal year 2025-26 recommended budget, which recommends to defund the program. SLO County to cut over $38 million — and nearly 170 jobs — to avoid budget crisis 'CASA volunteers just really make sure that kids don't fall through the cracks during this really traumatic chapter in their lives,' Bernheimer said. 'They make sure that all of their needs are met, educational needs, social needs, medical needs, mental health needs. They're really the one caring, consistent person in a child's life while they're in foster care.' These volunteers stay with a child from the time they're detained from their home until they achieve permanency, either by returning to their homes of origin or by being adopted by another family, Bernheimer said. Every year for over a decade, CASA has received $80,000 from the county, which pays for all the expenses that go into the mentor program, including one full-time staffer who trains volunteer mentors, Bernheimer said. Under proposed budget cuts for the upcoming year, that entire grant would be eliminated. Braly is one of the many foster youth who has benefited from the program. She had been in and out of the foster care system since second grade, and Braly's CASA mentor, Tcherkoyan, was consistently one of the most active people in her life during high school, always checking in on her, showing up to important life events and making memories of their own — going to Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw concerts together. 'She's always there to support me no matter what, and even when I felt like I had no one else around to help me,' Braly said. 'That's just a really great blessing.' Bernheimer said that within the foster youth population, toddlers up to 5 years old and teenagers are especially vulnerable subsets. The mentor program serves foster teens and young adults who age out of foster care who 'face really grim statistics,' she said. 'They're very likely, in general, to become homeless, not to attend college, to engage in real high-risk behavior unless they have a CASA (mentor),' Bernheimer said. Teenagers in the mentor program, by comparison, are far more likely to attend college, far more likely to find permanent housing and far more likely to say that they have hope for their future, she said. Bernheimer said the program isn't just about foster youth, but the broader SLO County community, too. 'In addition to being a vital support for teenagers, the mentor program is a vital component of public safety and community safety, because these are the adults that are going to be community members of San Luis Obispo, and they're far more likely to be healthy and contributing members of our community If they have a CASA volunteer,' she said. In Braly's case, Tcherkoyan supported her through her college applications, helping to find her a college counselor and navigate a complicated and unfamiliar system. Now, Braly will be attending Sonoma State University in the fall. 'It's kind of always been something that I wanted to do, but I wasn't exactly sure that I was able to do it,' Braly told The Tribune. 'I wasn't sure if I was going to actually be able to get into a four-year, but she made sure that I got the support that I needed to be able to get where I am now.' CASA's county grant is not the only financial loss the organization is facing. The proposed county cuts come in the context of funding losses at every other level, too — individual, state and federal. 'We rely heavily on federal, state and county dollars, and they're threatened at every level, in addition to the threats that we face from individual donors ... who are facing their own economic uncertainty,' Bernheimer said. 'So this is a very hard time for our organization and for all of our partners in the community doing really important work.' Around 40% of CASA's current fiscal year budget of $1.5 million comes from state, county and federal sources, with county funds making up the smallest portion, according to CASA development director Katrina Cathcart. The rest comes from private donors. Roughly 15% of CASA's current year budget comes from federal dollars and roughly 19% from state, Cathcart said. Only about 6% is county-funded, she said. Similar to others local nonprofits that have been losing federal funding under Trump administration cuts, that is money that CASA stands to lose at the end of its fiscal year on June 30. That is also the time when county budget cuts would kick in. At the state level, California must close a $12 billion budget deficit, which California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on economic uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's policies, tariffs and potential cuts to Medicaid. According to youth and family news publication The Imprint, the most recent revision of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's state budget cuts $90.5 million from foster care, child protection services, maltreatment prevention and other child welfare programs — funding sources that feed into CASA. CASA is one of many local nonprofits hit with potential budget cuts as the county attempts to close its $38 million funding gap. SLO County is chopping its budget. See where the cuts are happening On May 20, the Board of Supervisors proposed establishing a $1 million transition fund for nonprofits that were facing cuts focusing on 'those most in need,' but there was no direct discussion of a specific funding mechanism or commitment to continue funding CASA. Any funding changes would go into effect July 1. The county will make its final budget decisions during its June 9-11 budget hearing. But no matter what happens to their funding, Bernheimer is dedicated to continuing serving foster kids in the same capacity. 'At this moment, we are not planning on cutting services,' she said. 'We also don't know the full extent of all the cuts that we're facing as an organization, but we are really determined to figure out a way to continue services, even though we're not sure exactly what that's going to look like.' As of right now, she said the organization is 'trying to get creative and seek alternative funding streams.' Part of that includes individual donations. 'If anyone has ever considered supporting our organization, this is a great time to step up and provide us with support so that we can make sure that foster youth and vulnerable kids in our community can weather this really rocky storm that we're all traversing,' Bernheimer said. Donations can be made online at or people can find more information about how to become a business donor or volunteer.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
There will soon be a ‘mayor of L.A. County.' How much power should come with the job?
Soon, the most powerful Los Angeles County politician won't be the mayor of L.A. It won't be a county supervisor. It will be the elected chief executive. 'It's probably going to be the second most powerful position in the state next to the governor,' said former West Covina Mayor Brian Calderón Tabatabai, one of 13 people now tasked with deciding just how much power should come with the post. This week, the final five members were named to the county's 'governance reform task force.' The former politicians, union leaders, advocates and business owners will make recommendations on how to move forward with Measure G, the sprawling ballot measure approved by voters in November to overhaul L.A. County government. Measure G was massive in scope but scant on details. That means members of the task force — five of whom were picked directly by supervisors — must figure out the contours of a new county ethics commission by 2026. They'll also help expand the five-person board to nine by 2032. Perhaps most consequentially, they will have to hammer out the powers of the new chief executive, an elected official who will represent 10 million county residents — a position that some task force members don't even think should exist. 'I'm extremely concerned about the elected CEO,' said former Duarte Mayor John Fasana, a task force member. 'At this point, we have to try and find a way to make it work.' Rewind to last November's election. The elected chief executive position was, by far, the most controversial part of the overhaul, and a bitter pill to swallow for some who were otherwise eager to see the Board of Supervisors expanded and ethics rules strengthened. Currently, the chief executive, a role filled by Fesia Davenport, is appointed by the supervisors and works under them. She takes the first stab at the county budget and wrangles department heads, putting out whatever fires are erupting. It's not a glamorous job — many people don't know it exists — but the chief executive, more than any other county leader, is responsible for keeping the place running smoothly. With the passage of Measure G, the position will become a political one, beholden only to voters. Some have dubbed it the 'mayor of L.A. County.' Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who spearheaded the overhaul, said that one of the most influential positions in local government will now come out of the shadows and be directly accountable to voters. Supervisor Kathryn Barger has been deeply skeptical, warning that it will diminish the supervisors' power and politicize a position that functions best behind the scenes. Supervisor Holly Mitchell had similar hesitations, as did some county employee unions. Now, they've got to make it work. Derek Hsieh, who heads the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs as well as chairs the Coalition of County Unions, said both labor groups opposed Measure G and the creation of the elected chief executive. But now, as a member of the task force, he vowed to 'bring success to that decision.' In interviews, some task force members — both supporters of Measure G and opponents — said they plan to tread carefully. 'I've heard murmuring, like what if we get someone like an [Alex] Villanueva running amok and burning bridges unnecessarily,' said Marcel Rodarte, who heads the California Contract Cities Assn., referring to the bombastic former sheriff. 'It's a possibility it could happen. I want to make sure that those nine supervisors have the ability to rein in the CEO.' Rodarte and his colleagues will take the first stab at creating checks and balances. Should the chief executive be able to hire and fire department heads? What are the veto powers? How much control will the executive have over the county's purse strings? Currently, the position has no term limits — should that change? Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College and a task force member, said she's already hearing concerns about the lack of term limits, which would put the chief executive on an uneven footing with supervisors, who must leave after three four-year terms. She said the task force may consider a change in state law that would permit term limits. 'Looking at the federal government, there need to be very real constraints on executive power,' she said. 'There has to be a healthy friction.' Sadhwani said she's expecting some pushback to parts of the proposal from county supervisors, who may be less than pleased to see their power siphoned away. 'We can imagine there are board members who do not want to see those powers move to an executive branch,' she said. Rob Quan, a transparency advocate, said he'll be watching closely. 'What I would like to see is this task force have the freedom and independence and insulation to come up with good, thoughtful recommendations,' he said. 'What I don't want to see is these supervisors using their commissioners as gladiators.' — THREE-RING CIRCUS: L.A. city and county officials spent the past week in U.S. Dist. Judge David O. Carter's courtroom — either monitoring or participating in a multi-day evidentiary hearing on the city's settlement agreement with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights. The stakes are high: the Alliance wants to place the city's homelessness programs into receivership, effectively removing control from Mayor Karen Bass, on the grounds that the city is not meeting its legal obligations for providing such services. The city says it has made its best efforts to comply with the agreement. So who was in the room? City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto monitored the hearing at various points. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo was grilled on the stand over multiple days. Dr. Estemaye Agonafer, deputy mayor for homelessness, was sometimes prickly during three-plus hours of questioning. — WHEN DOES IT END? The testimony in the Alliance case is expected to spill into next week, although it's not clear how many more days are needed. Carter, who has remained unusually muted during this week's proceedings, declared at one point: 'Time's not a concern.' — READY TO MOVE ON: Speaking of homelessness, Councilmember Tim McOsker is looking to bring an end to Bass' emergency declaration on homelessness, rescinding the mayor's power to award no-bid contracts and lease buildings without council approval. The move comes two and a half years after Bass declared an emergency. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, an outspoken critic of the city's homeless programs, also has been a longtime supporter of terminating the emergency. — WAGE WARRIORS: A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028. — FEELING POWERLESS: Former Animal Services General Manager Staycee Dains said in a series of interviews with The Times that she felt powerless to solve entrenched problems at her agency, including severe understaffing and mistreatment of shelter animals. Dains said she was repeatedly told by the city's personnel department that she couldn't fire problem employees. And she clashed with a union that represents shelter employees. — MONEY IN THE MAIL: Many residents who lost their homes in the January wildfires should have received a tax refund after their damaged or destroyed properties were reassessed. But about 330 checks are in limbo after postal workers tried unsuccessfully to deliver them to vacant or destroyed homes. — NO CHARGES: A former L.A. County probation official who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexually abusing them when they were minors will not be criminally prosecuted because the alleged incidents happened too long ago. Thomas Jackson, 58, has been named in dozens of lawsuits that were part of a historic $4-billion settlement. — WHAT DISASTER? L.A. leaders declined to dramatically increase the budget of the city's Emergency Management Department, despite the many natural disasters that could hit the region in years to come. Facing a nearly $1-billion shortfall, the City Council passed a budget that rejected the funding bump asked for by department leaders. — I SUED THE SHERIFF: Former Times reporter Maya Lau is suing Los Angeles County and Villanueva, the former sheriff, arguing that her 1st Amendment rights were violated. Lau's attorneys said she was the target of a sheriff's investigation that was 'designed to intimidate and punish' her for reporting about a leaked list of deputies with a history of misconduct. That's it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@ Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
