There are safety concerns for the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power this morning.
On Tuesday, the board of water and power commissioners will vote on a more than $700,000 dollar contract.
That would provide personal security to Janisse Quiñones, the CEO and chief engineer of the department.
Quiñones has been under public pressure in the wake of the deadly Palisades Fire.
The LADWP says Quiñones has been getting security from local law enforcement since the Palisades Fire ignited but she can’t keep getting that protection due to a lack of personnel.
The department is arguing that the security is needed so it wants to contract out private security.
In a board letter about this topic, LADWP officials wrote that “since the wildfires began, LADWP has received numerous threats to the CEO chief engineer’s personal safety, some of which have required direct intervention by law enforcement personnel.”
Documents obtained by NBC4 reveal that this would give Quiñones security services for one year – through Pinkerton consulting and investigations executive protection services.
The price tag would be just over $703,000. LADWP did get proposals from two other companies to compare prices.
Their contracts, coming up to over $930,000, and over $1.3 million.
NBC4 has reached out to the LADWP seeking more information ahead of the board vote. The meeting starts at 10 a.m.
[publish_date
