Citing threats, DWP seeks to spend up to $700,000 on private security for CEO
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The chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has asked the utility’s board to spend around $700,000 on private security for her, citing an uptick in threats after the Palisades fire.
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, the 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.
In late January 2024, after a series of rainstorms, a DWP property manager spotted a tear in the reservoir’s floating cover, according to internal emails reviewed by The Times.
Quiñones, who took over as head 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” over her Puerto Rican roots.
She addressed some of the commentary about her background at a DWP commission meeting last month, suggesting that her critics ignored her qualifications in order to fuel an agenda. She highlighted her decades of 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 CEO 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.” Los Angeles Police Department officials also declined to disclose any details about the alleged threats.
The DWP panel backed a $750,000 salary for proposed General Manager Janisse Quiñones, far higher than the $447,000 earned by the current manager.
“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 against Quiñones. A spokesperson for L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto did not answer a question about whether any misdemeanor charges had been 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 as much as $703,577 in spending, was issued without a formal competitive bidding process, although the DWP said it received two other proposals that were far more expensive.
The company “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 company’s agents have military or surveillance backgrounds, including in 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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