Alternatives Sought for City Hiring Freezes

City Council members asked staff to complete a report by the end of the month outlining options available to them to balance the city budget without imposing hiring freezes.

Since the late 1980s when city revenues dropped drastically, city officials said the city has used hiring freezes to make up for budget shortfalls.

Recently city officials have questioned whether the practice is hindering the ability of department general managers to effectively run their offices.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who said she has been pondering the question for a while, introduced the motion soon after Police Chief Bernard Parks wrote a letter to council members saying the freeze of dozens of civilian support positions is hampering the Los Angeles Police Department.

“This is a dysfunctional system,” Chick said Tuesday. “It doesn’t make sense. And I’d like to see if there is a better way of doing it.”

City officials said that during the budget process, individual departments receive a list of positions that they can freely fill if they become vacant.

Other positions, however, are frozen until the department is given permission by several committees and ultimately the full council to fill them.

Chick said that approval process can take as long as a year.

The councilwoman said she questions the fairness of a hiring freeze since general managers have been stripped of their civil service protection and are now evaluated by merit and their ability to meet certain goals. At the same time, the budget process “ties their hands” in making staffing decisions.

The city administrative officer, the controller and the chief legislative analyst were asked to report back to the council by Feb. 27 on the pros and cons of using a hiring freeze and alternatives that would give general managers more flexibility in running their departments.