Mayor vetoes DWP reform proposal

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, after weeks of studiously avoiding engaging the City Council in debating reform of the DWP, issued a veto message late Tuesday on the last measure approved by the City Council.
In only the ninth veto of his six years in office, Villaraigosa said the latest proposal that give the council the power to fire general mangers and remove commissioners should not be for department.
"While the governance structure of the DWP and other city departmstn may very well need reform, the mayor is vetooing this measure becasue he believes that amending the city's management strucuture should not be done in piecemeal fashion,:" the veto message said.
The meausre, the 11th approved for the March 8 ballot, was approved by the council on a 10-1 vote, the exact number needed to override a veto.
The proposal would allow the council to remove the DWP's general manager by a two-thirds vote, a power currently reserved for the mayor and the utility's commission. The council would also be able to remove commissioners as well as override the mayor's decision to remove the general manager.
Villaraigosa and his top staff were never publicly engaged in the debate over the measures, which were developed over the past six months at a series of pubic hearins held by Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilwoman Jan Perry.