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Council committee hears department-by-department vacancy reports; DWP seeks faster civil‑service processing
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Summary
The Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee reviewed vacancy reports from the Port of Los Angeles, LADWP, Los Angeles Public Library and LAWA and agreed to hold all reports as a cohort for a single Council vote; LADWP described an MOA with city personnel to speed classification work and reduce hiring turnaround times.
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 examining and classification staff. D’Andrea said the MOA is designed to produce a service-level guarantee that would cut classification turnaround from about 12–14 months to roughly 4.5–5.5 months, a reduction he characterized as “huge” for field operations planning.
“Because DWP is so different … our source of funding is quite different, and our position management is as well,” D’Andrea said, adding that DWP is pursuing both front‑end changes (the MOA) and back‑end operational changes, including “accelerated hiring” events that produce conditional job offers in a single Saturday when eligible civil‑service lists already exist.
The Harbor Department representative, Stephanie, told the committee the Port has about 1,000 authorized positions and roughly 140 vacancies, a representative vacancy rate of about 14 percent; she said 90 of those vacancies are already in stages of being filled (sorted, interviewing or offers pending). Stephanie said most entry‑level construction and maintenance roles at the Port are filled through Targeted Local Hire (TLH) or Bridge‑to‑Jobs programs and that Port management is developing its fiscal‑year plan to augment maintenance and construction staffing to support newly developed public spaces.
A Los Angeles Public Library representative (addressed as John by the chair) reported the library system has about 1,284 positions and roughly 112 vacancies (about 8.7 percent). The library said its largest vacancy counts are in librarian entry‑level and administrative clerk classifications, noted the department’s use of targeted local hiring and Bridge‑to‑Jobs, and described Measure L (2011) as providing dedicated library funding; the library said it has built a budget stabilization fund of just under $20 million.
Mark Adams, Government Affairs Director for Los Angeles World Airports, said LAWA is budgeted for 3,659 positions, with 2,998 filled and 661 vacancies (about 18 percent). LAWA reported hiring 206 employees and promoting 87 so far this fiscal year, while losing 184 employees (promotions/transfers, retirements, resignations and separations). Adams said LAWA is using emergency appointments when civil‑service lists are not yet approved (he reported 102 emergency appointments) and that vacancies have led to increased overtime and workload pressures on classifications such as custodian, security officer, airport police officer and gardener/caretaker.
Procedurally, Chair McOsker proposed that the committee continue each department’s report and retain the items in the Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee until the full cohort of departments has been heard. The committee approved that instruction without objection; the chair said the committee will take a single vote on the assembled cohort before forwarding items to full Council.
The committee did not adopt any substantive policy changes at the meeting; members requested follow‑up reports (for example, ZIP‑code hiring data from the Port and updated implementation details on the DWP–personnel MOA) and indicated they expect departments to return with more detailed information before the City’s budget process. The committee adjourned to its next special meeting after agreeing to reconvene to complete the cohort review.
