VILLANUEVA
the Santa Clarita Valley. “It kind of took a more holistic view of the county’s response to any crisis.”
However, Villanueva said Thursday that the Woosley Fire was being used as a “trojan horse” to facilitate a “power grab.”
“It definitely is about power,” said Villanueva. “It has nothing to do with somehow making emergency management somehow better, because what they’re going to do is they’re going to substitute an elected official ... (with people) all appointed by the Board of Supervisors.”
Villanueva said the current system, with a coordination group that creates directives the Sheriff’s Department executes, is being circumvented by the Board of Supervisors.
“Some people just don’t want to be told what the limits of their authority are or what their role is. And as an elected sheriff, I have a role as a director of emergency operations,” Villanueva said, adding that he is a part of the Unified Coordination Group but has the role of executing what the group decision is. “What’s decided at the group level, that is how the process works. That is what teamwork is all about. So I want to encourage my counterparts on the Board of Supervisors to join the game and let’s do this the right way.
“Unfortunately, the Department of Public Health (and) the Department of Health Services was not prepared for a pandemic at the onset of this.”
The board, Villanueva said, would “be the one dictating the outcome of every single incident, which they definitely don’t understand how to handle them properly.”
Late Wednesday night, Villanueva contended this was in response to his handling of the L.A. County gun-stores policy, which as of Thursday he would consider non-essential businesses that need to be closed to the general public.
“During the closure, they shall be permitted to sell ammunition to security guard companies,” said Villanueva. “Also, I am making an exception for those who have already lawfully purchased a firearm, possess a valid California Firearms Safety certificate and simply need to take possession of their firearm.”
In a statement issued from her office on Thursday, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said that two-thirds of the counties of California had adopted council-type organizational structure, and that the Sheriff’s Department had been meeting for months to discuss how to achieve this goal.
“The change on Tuesday’s agenda will not in any way diminish the Sheriff’s Department’s authority over emergency law enforcement activities,” Kuehl said in a prepared statement. “it simply updates county codes to reflect best practices and implements one of the recommendations made in the aftermath of the Woolsey Fire.”
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Some people just don’t want to be told what the limits of their authority are or what their role is.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva,
in response to efforts to remove him as director of emergency operations