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San Gabriel council introduces ordinance to renew public health services agreement with LA County
Summary
Council introduced Ordinance 720 to approve a modernized contract with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to continue county-provided public health services for cities; motion passed 5-0 to introduce and schedule adoption.
Assistant to the City Manager Ileana Flores presented a proposed update to the service agreement between the City of San Gabriel and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on June 3, and the council introduced Ordinance 720 to authorize the updated contract.
Flores said Los Angeles County had asked all 85 cities in the county to approve an updated agreement that modernizes statutory references and standardizes terms. The city's last formal agreement with the county dated to 1996; Flores said the updated contract keeps existing county-provided public health services in place at no additional cost to cities. "Should the city elect to not utilize the county's public health services, it would be required to establish an independent health department," Flores said; she noted the substantial personnel and equipment costs that would likely be incurred by a city-run department.
Councilmembers asked clarifying questions. Councilmember John Wu asked about turnarounds for county inspections and enforcement related to restaurants and street vending; staff and County representatives present said routine inspections and outreach are ongoing and that more complex coordinated enforcement operations generally are scheduled and can take several weeks to organize. City Manager Mark Lazaretto and staff noted earlier outreach and joint enforcement efforts with county public health on illegal street vending and food safety.
Council introduced the ordinance by title and set the second reading and adoption for the next regular meeting; the introduction motion passed 5-0.
Ending: If adopted at the next meeting the ordinance will authorize execution of the revised county public health services agreement, which will renew automatically in five-year increments unless terminated. Staff said the agreement preserves county-provided public health services for San Gabriel and that establishing an independent local health department would likely require multi-million-dollar annual funding commitments.
