As Los Angeles begins the long, arduous task of recovering from the devastating Palisades fire, Mayor Karen Bass has tapped a number of people, both in and outside of City Hall, to coordinate the efforts.

What’s more difficult to discern is how the pieces fit together, with consulting firms, nonprofit groups and City Council members all in the mix, along with Bass’ appointees.

Three weeks ago, Bass named longtime civic leader Steve Soboroff as her recovery czar, saying he would come up with a comprehensive strategy for rebuilding, working closely with city agencies to lead the recovery’s first phase.

But on Friday, as the city marked a month since the fires, Bass suggested that Soboroff would have a more limited role, leaving him primarily in charge of rebuilding the Palisades’ historic business district and the area’s library, park and recreation center.

“He is focused on the rebuilding of Palisades Village, the historic Palisades Village,” Bass said. “But we consider Steve to be the overall ambassador to the Palisades.”

Soboroff — who will earn $500,000 over three months, all of it paid by philanthropic groups — said that his role has not changed and that he continues to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government entities.

Bass, who has faced stinging criticism over her performance during the early days of the fire, also announced Friday that she had selected Hagerty Consulting, an Illinois-based firm that specializes in disaster response, to provide “full project management” of the recovery. That firm, she said, will report to Jim Featherstone, who returned to the city workforce after the fire to become the No. 2 at the Emergency Management Department.

Featherstone, who ran the agency from 2007 to 2016, is now in charge of a disaster recovery group overseen by the agency and is paid a $200,343.60 annual salary, according to the city controller’s office. It’s standard practice for city leaders, in the wake of emergencies, to create such a formal recovery group to oversee long-term planning.

Bass said that Hagerty will be tasked with “coordinating all of the different private and public entities” working on the recovery. She did not say how much Hagerty will be paid, or for how long.

She also suggested that she would bring on AECOM, the global engineering giant, to tackle the time-consuming paperwork that must be assembled to seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for wildfire-related expenses.

Bass, who was on a diplomatic mission to Ghana when the fire broke out on Jan. 7, is facing immense pressure to appear firmly in control of recovery efforts. That task is more difficult in a region where county officials and federal agencies have greater influence than the city on such issues as debris removal and hazardous waste cleanup.

Last month’s wildfires showed little regard for jurisdictional lines, with the Palisades fire breaking out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and blazing through the city of Malibu and an unincorporated swath of the county. The entire area is represented by L.A. County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, who has been heavily involved in recovery efforts.

And while Bass is wholly concerned with the aftermath of the Palisades fire, county officials — particularly Supervisor Kathryn Barger — have also been focused on the devastating Eaton fire in Altadena and Pasadena, communities outside the city of L.A.

Beyond the government, many other entities are looking to shape the road ahead.

Developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in the 2022 mayoral election and has been sharply critical of her since the fires, this week launched a foundation headed by a collection of business leaders to focus on recovery. Gov. Gavin Newsom has convened his own group of business leaders to advise on the reconstruction.

Miguel Santana, who heads the California Community Foundation, recently formed a rebuilding initiative called Department of Angels with Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel, which will similarly try to bolster recovery efforts. Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong has said he plans to convene his own leadership council.

In addition to all that, Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, is heading up the City Council’s five-member ad hoc committee on wildfire recovery, which met for five hours Thursday to pore over rebuilding strategies.

Asked about the complicated mix of city consultants, politicians and political appointees, Bass made clear Friday that she is at the top of any organizational chart for the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades.

“Let me just explain: The person that’s in charge is here. Me. That’s the person that’s in charge,” she told reporters.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who sits on the ad hoc wildfire recovery committee, said she finds the web of appointments and consultants confusing. It’s not clear, for example, whether Hagerty will direct city employees or be directed by them, she said.

“I don’t understand functionally how it’s going to operate,” she said.

Former L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who also spent nearly two decades on the City Council, said Bass and other city leaders will need to bring all of the region’s civic and political leaders together in a “unified command.”

“From the outside, it looks somewhat chaotic,” said Yaroslavsky, who represented a portion of the San Fernando Valley during and after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Soboroff, 76, said he insisted from the beginning that he not be paid with taxpayer dollars.

“We are incredibly grateful that these philanthropies came together so Steve Soboroff could drop everything and help ensure we leave no tool on the shelf in our response without costing taxpayers a dime,” said Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass.

Seidl praised Soboroff for his long record with the city, working to develop Playa Vista, bringing Staples Center — now Crypto.com Arena — to downtown and serving on the Board of Police Commissioners.

Bass and her team declined to identify the specific sources of the philanthropic funds. A source with knowledge of the arrangement, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the $500,000 will come from three foundations.

Randy Johnson, a longtime real estate executive who worked on the development of Playa Vista with Soboroff, will report to him on recovery efforts, receiving $250,000 during the same time period, also from charitable organizations.

On Friday, asked about the mayor’s remarks, Soboroff said he does not view his role as diminished in any way.

“I’m doing exactly what I was doing with the same lack of authority,” he said.

Soboroff, who raised his family in the Palisades, said that while he doesn’t have formal authority, since he isn’t a city employee, he does have the trust of the community.