Investigation of Sheriff’s Dept.
Bill Boyarsky’s column “Stacking Up Support for Sheriff Block” (Metro, Sept. 13) showed a complete lack of understanding of board policy on public hearings.
Standard protocol for any public hearing is to allow elected officials to testify first as a courtesy. This has always been the practice of the Board of Supervisors as it is for all legislative bodies in the state.
Realizing the importance and significance of the Sept. 3 meeting, Supervisor Deane Dana suggested that we allow each supervisorial district to have a designated amount of time to arrange for individuals to present testimony. Under this plan, individuals with exceptional or extenuating circumstances would have been allowed to go early in the afternoon, while other members of the public would have had the rest of the evening to testify.
Supervisor Gloria Molina led the assault against this reasonable plan of action, which resulted in a default to the standard “first come, first served” practice for public hearings. When this procedure is used for hundreds of people, many are bound to feel slighted.
MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH
Supervisor, Fifth District
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