County approves motion to explore ways to improve county governance
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion Tuesday to explore ways to improve county governance, and strengthen equity and transparency, which includes the possibility of expanding the board.
The motion authored by Supervisors Holly Mitchell, 2nd District, and Lindsey Horvath, 3rd District, directed county staff to complete several tasks with the purpose of reporting back to the board on best practices on potential governance reforms.
In addition, the motion directed the executive officer of the board to conduct an expedited request to retain an independent third-party consultant to review the board’s governance model and provide feedback to consider moving forward.
“Since reading the motion, my staff and I have spoken with various members of the public who shared concerns with the county’s current governance model,” Mitchell said during the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.
“The core of this motion is a request for a report back with recommendation on establishing an independent external process to review L.A. County’s governance model to study equitable best practices and identify potential reforms to strengthen our policy, budget processes and increase the effective opportunities for public participation,” she continued.
According to Horvath, the motion is about “being the best county government possible.” The Board of Supervisors has the responsibility of governing approximately 10 million residents and managing a $44 billion public fund.
The motion outlined four key actions, which include the development and funding of an independent, third-party study to explore a process for advanced review of proposed motions and board letters by the public; review of the county’s current policy system and budgeting processes; enhancing public participation and ability to provide public comments remotely; and lastly, recommendation on various campaign finance reforms.
“Key amongst these items is expanding the number of county supervisors as we’ve heard from
testimony already today because our residents deserve representation that is greater than one person per 2 million or more residents,” Horvath said during the meeting.
After a short discussion, during which some of the other supervisors were able to express their concerns and questions, the board approved the motion.
“The whole point of the motion is to engage in an exploration process to allow us to look at best practices across the country to inform the decisions we can or may not make at some point in the future,” Mitchell said during the meeting.
“This is a report back. We will not change the way we govern based on the passing of this motion,” she continued. “This creates an opportunity for us to look far and wide to learn best practices around governance to be better for L.A. County.”