good morning. Welcome to LA on the Record, City Hall’s newsletter. Rebecca Ellis joins David Zahnizer, Noah Goldberg and Matt Hamilton to bring you the latest information on city and county government.
Los Angeles County supervisors have no shortage of costs that drain their budgets Lindsay Horvath he recently told guests at this week’s Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum luncheon.
Fire recovery costs a lot of money. and deep cuts by the federal government. And the ongoing homeless crisis.
As Mr. Horvath concluded his speech, he said: emma schaferThe club luncheon host asked about yet another expense: What happened to that $2 million settlement with the county’s chief executive officer? Fesia Davenport?
“We were faced with two bad choices,” Horvath told the crowd munching on shrimp skewers.
Horvath said he disagrees with Davenport, but also believes “we need to focus on a functional county government and saving taxpayers money.”
Three months ago, all five supervisors secretly voted to pay Ms. Davenport $2 million after she was sued for damages due to the professional consequences of Measure G, a voter-approved ballot measure that ultimately cost her her job.
Measure G, which voters passed in November, reorganized government, in part by making county leaders an elected position rather than one chosen by the board. A county executive, who will manage county government and oversee the budget, is expected to be elected by 2028. Davenport, a longtime county employee, had been in the position since 2021.
As part of the economic demands, Ms. Davenport said Measure G caused “reputational damage, embarrassment, and physical, emotional, and mental distress.”
Critics argue that unpleasant personnel changes occur all the time without employees securing millions of dollars in pay.
“Los Angeles County residents should be outraged.” morgan millerhe worked on the Measure G campaign and called the board’s decision “a blatant misuse of public funds.”
Horvath, who authored Measure G, promised during his campaign that it would not cost taxpayers any additional costs. Most recently, she expressed dissatisfaction with the Davenport settlement, saying the agreement should have included additional language to avoid “future risks.”
Horvath said in a statement that he is considering including language in the settlement agreement that would separate Davenport and the county to avoid the risk of additional claims in the future.
supervisor Janice HahnHorvath, who co-sponsored Measure G, said he voted in favor of the settlement on the advice of the county attorney.
“While I have worked for several years to expand the board and create an elected county executive, I have never disrespected our current CEO,” she said in a statement. “I always envisioned the CEO team working with newly elected county executives.”
Davenport has been on medical leave since earlier this month and did not respond to requests for comment. She told staff she intended to return early next year.
It is not unusual for county department heads to earn high salaries. But they usually get them when they go out.
bobby cagleformer Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, received $175,301 in 2021. Former county prosecutor Rodrigo Castro Silva I won $213,199. Adolfo GonzalezThe former probation officer received $172,521. mary wickhamthe former county attorney received $449,577.
The county said all of those severance payments were obtained through a Times records request and were outlined in the department heads’ contracts, so there was no need for a vote by the board.
Yuki HamaiDavenport’s predecessor also paid $1.5 million, saying he was subjected to “relentless and brutal” harassment by the former sheriff. alex villanueva.
The Davenport settlement was voted on, but was not made public until after the investigation that first reported the settlement.
david royThe First Amendment Coalition’s legal director said that if an agreement is reached and approved by all parties, the county will be required to immediately report the outcome of any votes cast under the proposed settlement. But if it’s not, he says, there’s no need to publicly report it, just provide the information when asked.
“You don’t have to proactively report it at that meeting. You still have to disclose it upon request,” Roy said. “I don’t think that’s a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m passing on the provisions of the Brown Act.”
State of play
— Demanding documents: This week, two U.S. senators stepped up their pursuit of the Palisades fire, asking the city to address issues such as fire department staffing and reservoir repairs. In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Council marquise harris dawsonsense. rick scott (Republican of Florida) and ron johnson (R-Wis.) showed little interest in the Eaton Fire, which devastated Altadena but did not burn the city of Los Angeles. Assistant to the County Supervisor Kathryn BergerShe, who represents Altadena, said neither she nor any other county office has received such a request for documents.
— Bumpy beginnings: Election campaign for city council candidate Jose Ugarte It’s off to a rocky start. Mr. Ugarte has the support of his boss, a city councilman. current pricerecently agreed by an ethics committee for failing to mention his outside consulting work on his financial disclosure forms, but on Wednesday two ethics committee members blocked the deal, saying they believed he would have been fined (Ugarte called the violation an “unintentional clerical error”). stay tuned!
— New boss: mayor Karen Bass On Friday, the city announced it had selected Jamie Moore, a 30-year veteran of the LAFD, to serve as city employee. He comes to the department as it grapples with the ongoing fallout over the city’s response to the Palisades fire.
— Litigation on the way: Meanwhile, the head of the city’s firefighters union is planning retaliation against Bass, who publicly warned about fire department staffing during the January fire. freddy escobarpresident of the Los Angeles City Local 112 Firefighters Union, said he is preparing a lawsuit against the city. Escobar was arrested earlier this year after an audit found that more than 70% of transactions made with union credit cards had no supporting documentation.
— He’s back! (a little bit): former mayor Eric Garcetti Will return to City Hall for the first time after retiring in 2022 and appear alongside city council members Nitya Raman in the halls of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Garcetti, a former US ambassador to India, described Diwali as an “awakening” and said it may be “the longest-running human holiday on earth.”
— Garupan generation: The San Fernando Valley car dealership known as Galpin Motors has consulted with the Los Angeles Police Commission, the Los Angeles Police Department’s civilian oversight board. On Wednesday, the council approved the nomination of Vice President Galpan. Jeffrey Scovinto serve on the committee, making him the third executive to serve on the dealership’s board in the past 40 years.
— Airport overhaul: Los Angeles World Airports is undergoing a “complete demolition” and renovation of the space at Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 5 in preparation for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. During construction, JetBlue Airways will operate from Terminal 1, Spirit Airlines will move to Terminal 2, and American Airlines will land at Terminal 4.
— Outdoors: Two of the five citizen commissioners who oversee the Ministry of Water and Power have submitted their resignations. DWP Commissioner george mcgrawtwo years ago, he told the Times that he had been laying the groundwork for his departure for six months. McGraw said she realized it was no longer possible to balance her committee work, which can take up to 30 to 40 hours a week, with other parts of her life. “We needed additional capacity,” he said.
— No more Mia: DWP Commissioner Mia teacher was a bit more candid, telling Bass in his Sept. 29 resignation letter that his term on the board was having a negative impact on his work at the LA-based design studio. Lehrer said the company was disqualified from the city project based on a “misinterpretation” of his role on the commission.
“As a result, I am experiencing unexpected limitations in my professional opportunities that were neither expected nor justified under the existing ethical framework,” she wrote. “These constraints not only impact my own business operations, but they also have a significant impact on the 45 professionals and their families who depend on the continued success of our work.”
quick hit
- Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to address homelessness went to Cotner Street near Highway 405 in Councilman Katie Yaroslavsky’s Westside district.
- Next week’s minutes will look like this: The board will vote on a resolution Tuesday for victims who say they were sexually abused at county facilities as children. The vote comes months after the United States agreed to the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments, and gossip to . Did a friend forward this email to you? Get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
