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La Palma council authorizes department restructuring and city clerk overhire ahead of retirements
Summary
The La Palma City Council unanimously approved a package of staffing changes to fill an impending retirement in the city clerk’s office and to reorganize public works roles, including creating a public works manager and a deputy city clerk position to allow overlap training.
La Palma’s City Council unanimously approved a staff-recommended reorganization Thursday that creates a public works manager role, retitles water-related maintenance positions and authorizes an overhire in the city clerk’s office to allow training before a long-serving clerk retires.
City staff told the council the measures are intended to maintain continuity after the impending retirements of Kimberly Kenny and the departure of the previous public works/community services director. The proposal would establish a public works manager to oversee capital improvement projects and operations, retitle the utilities maintenance supervisor to “water supervisor” for clarity and industry alignment, and integrate community services into the city manager’s office on an interim basis.
On the city clerk side, staff asked the council to create a deputy city clerk position, adjust salaries for both the deputy and city clerk positions, and authorize an overhire so the new hire can overlap with the current clerk for several months of training. Staff said the overlap is a critical safeguard for record-keeping and statutory duties administered by the clerk’s office.
Council Member Vikesh Patel moved to adopt the staff recommendations; Council Member Baker seconded. A roll-call vote recorded five "aye" votes and the motion carried 5–0.
The action was presented as an administrative restructuring rather than a change to service levels. Staff said the reorganization is intended to preserve institutional knowledge, ensure safe and continuous water and public-works operations, and maintain statutory compliance in the clerk’s office. No fiscal figures or salary ranges were specified during the presentation; staff said positions and adjusted salaries would be implemented according to the approved personnel schedule.
The council did not receive public comment on the item. The resolution adopting the restructuring and overhire passed unanimously; staff will proceed with recruitment and the planned overlaps described at the meeting.
