Council committee hears department-by-department vacancy reports; DWP seeks faster civil‑service processing

The Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee convened a special meeting to review departmental vacancy levels and hiring plans, hearing separate briefings from the Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), the Los Angeles Public Library and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). Committee Chair Tim McOsker said the aim of the cohort process is to examine vacancies department by department and then take a single cohort vote before council as the committee completes its review.

DWP’s director of human resources, Michael D’Andrea, told the committee that DWP’s vacancy rate based on its funded (approved) head count is “about a 6 percent vacancy rate, probably a little bit less than that.” He said that measure differs from other city measures because DWP funds a realistic set of positions rather than the larger number in its annual personnel resolution. To shorten the time it takes to create civil service lists and classifications, DWP described a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the City personnel department that would fund additional…