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Glendale Council confirms new finance director, water-and-power general manager and fire chief
Summary
The Glendale City Council on June 24 approved the city manager's appointments of Jack Liang as director of finance, Scott Mellon as general manager of Glendale Water & Power and Jeff Brooks as fire chief, each confirmed by roll call votes during the meeting.
Glendale City Council confirmed three department-head appointments at its June 24 meeting, approving the city manager's picks for director of finance, general manager of Glendale Water & Power (GWP) and fire chief.
The council voted to appoint Jack Liang as director of finance, effective July 7, 2025. Liang, who said his legal first name is Shijie but goes by Jack professionally, described roughly two decades of public-sector finance experience including executive roles in Oregon and said he aims to align financial strategy with community priorities.
City Manager Rubi Galanian recommended Liang after a nationwide recruitment. Councilmember Brotman moved the motion citing the city charter, and the council approved the appointment by roll call with all members voting yes (Asatarian/Asadarian, Brotman, Garpetian, Kasakhian, Mayor Najarian).
The council also approved Scott Mellon as general manager of Glendale Water & Power. Mellon, an electrical engineer by training, has worked in municipal utilities since 2001 and most recently served as assistant general manager for power management at GWP. In his remarks Mellon described GWP as being at an “inflection point” and said the utility must evolve to meet reliability, sustainability and affordability goals. The motion to confirm Mellon passed by unanimous roll call vote.
Finally, the council confirmed Jeff Brooks as fire chief. Brooks has served more than 20 years with the Glendale Fire Department and was interim chief for four months prior to his appointment. He told the council he remains committed to transparency, professional development and department readiness. The confirmation motion passed by roll call with all members voting yes.
These appointments were presented by City Manager Galanian and followed staff introductions and short biographical remarks. Each appointment was made by motion pursuant to Article 4, Section 4 of the Glendale City Charter and recorded on the meeting roll calls. The newly appointed officials spoke briefly after their confirmations and posed for photographs with family and council members.
The approvals were formal personnel actions by the council; no further policy decisions or programmatic changes were made as part of the three votes.
