Council confirms Billie Phillips for city personnel leadership

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on April 11 to confirm Billie Phillips to lead the city—Department of Personnel.

Phillips spoke to the council after her nomination and described her approach as rooted in both private-practice law and public-service experience. "En el corazón de cada asunto de personal hay una persona, una persona que está buscando dignidad y justicia," Phillips said, describing priorities of communication, training and culture change in the personnel system.

The nut graf: Council members praised Phillips—background in litigation and crisis-response work and emphasized the department—s need to balance rules with a culture that supports employees. Several councilmembers referenced a department-internal pilot crisis-response program Phillips helped build and said they expected immediate attention to workforce communication and fairness.

Council remarks noted staffing and fiscal constraints but expressed confidence Phillips could lead reforms. Councilmember Hernández said the city faces a "crisis" in personnel matters and praised Phillips—work creating a pilot response program. Councilmember Price and others thanked Phillips and her family for taking on the role.

Vote and next steps: The council opened the confirmation, allowed questions, closed the list and recorded an 11-0 vote to confirm Phillips. The transcript records the confirmation as approved; staff will complete the usual onboarding and reporting steps for a department head.

Ending: Phillips said she would work with the mayor—s office, CAO and department leadership to improve communication, training and fairness and invited questions from councilmembers; the council closed the item with unanimous confirmation.