To Increase Accountability, Add Supervisors to Board

#12 EXPAND COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Voters have repeatedly rejected the idea of adding more elected officials to the L.A. County payroll. As a result, the Board of Supervisors, which controls a $17 billion budget and represents 10 million people, is structured as it was upon its founding in 1850: Five members. Only now, instead of administering the affairs of Spanish land grant chaparral, they each have about 2 million constituents across a sprawling megalopolis.

The board sets policies on health care and social services, controls the budget for law enforcement, manages infrastructure, and serves as the region’s largest employer. Given these responsibilities, more consideration should be given to expanding the board.

Each supervisor represents more people than many U.S. senators and governors, directing county services largely to the lowest-income sector of L.A.’s citizenry. As such, the county is a peculiar political entity, covering a huge landscape but with relevance limited to a select group of constituents.

The supervisors need to be doing more. The county health care system is often described as dysfunctional, but that’s not accurate; it’s approaching chaos. Social services, especially foster care, are scarcely any better. The frequent failure to deliver services in these areas is unworthy of this or any other community.

A bigger board would be able to address these problems more effectively. Each supervisor would oversee a smaller geographic range and better focus on problems in his or her district. And because each supervisor would have fewer constituents, accountability would be increased.

True, the numbers would still be large, more than 1 million citizens per supervisor. But any improvement is a step in the right direction.

Four years ago, Proposition A called for an expansion to nine members; voters shot it down, as they had four previous proposals over the four preceding decades. There was, of course, reluctance to increase the government payroll. Also, a planned companion measure, which would have created a board president, never materialized.

Without a countywide election for an executive officer whose role would be to keep the supervisors from putting the interests of their districts ahead of the common good the board would tend toward Balkanization. Even proponents of expansion were dubious about proceeding in that light.

The added supervisors would require staffs of the same size because each would still need an expert on health care, social services and the other areas they cover. But they would not necessarily need to fund more field offices; a supervisor who now has four such offices might only need two once his or her district is split. Assuming field office expenses are a wash, the cost of expanding the board would be around $16 million.

Jim Noyes, the county’s director of public works, is officially neutral on the subject of expanding the board. But he started as a civil engineering assistant in 1966 and has held a variety of posts before taking the helm of the department three years ago, so he gained some insight into how things have changed over the years.

One big change has been the increased number of interest groups demanding results a list that includes community activists, homeowners associations, environmental organizations and labor unions. “For every lobbyist or special interest that existed in 1975, there’s probably 20 of them today,” he said. “There are all kinds of special interest groups that have come forward over the last 25 years.”

That creates an unreasonable burden on the board’s staff but more than that, it limits the opportunity for dialogue and getting things done.

Noyes believes the board wasn’t expanded in the past because voters didn’t want more government. But he believes that a larger board could have an advantage in problem solving. “There is the opportunity for additional ideas and input to come forward,” he said.

EXPAND COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Proposal: Adding four members and a

president to the L.A. County Board of

Supervisors

Obstacles: Voter resistance

Cost: $16 million

Time Frame: A ballot measure could go before the public at any upcoming election