LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Aug. 6 that he is conducting a second annual review of every city department as part of his commitment to improve accountability and performance measurement in city government.
Garcetti, who was elected to office in July 2013, campaigned on a promise to interview each of the city's department heads and replace those who would not make changes to make the departments more transparent and accountable.
According to Garcetti, the City Charter assigns the mayor the role of the city's chief executive officer, and when he took office, the mayor said he took the unprecedented step of requiring every city department head to reapply for his or her job.
"I want to make sure that we hold every city department head accountable and measure their performance to save taxpayer dollars and deliver better services. I want Los Angeles to be the best run city in America," Garcetti said in a prepared statement.
Throughout the past year, the mayor and his staff have worked with the general managers and their departments to set goals and to establish metrics for measuring and reporting departmental performance, he said. Each department head will be expected to incorporate the key points from their review into their management, goals, and departmental culture, including four city-wide priority outcomes: making the city more livable, sustainable, prosperous, safe, and well-run.
The key areas Garcetti wants the department heads to focus on this year include: integration of statistical analysis within departments, alignment of departments to performance-based budgeting; and compliance with the mayor's open data executive directive to make departments more transparent and accountable.
The mayor has appointed 10 new managers since taking office: Chief Ralph Terrazas at the Los Angeles Fire Department; Rushmore Cervantes, interim general manager of the Housing and Community Investment Department; Holly Wolcott, interim City Clerk; Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation; Danielle Brazell, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs; Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles; Jan Perry, general manager of the Economic and Workforce Development Department; Marcie Edwards, general manager of the Department of Water and Power; Raymond Chan, general manager of the Department of Building and Safety; and Stephen Simon, executive director of Department on Disability.
