City to Review Hiring-Freeze Policy

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday ordered a review of the city's hiring freeze policy that was put in place during lean budget years.

The panel unanimously approved Councilman Bob Blumenfield's motion to take a second look at the policy “as the city begins to emerge from the economic difficulties of the last decade.”

Blumenfield's spokesman said the councilman is “committed to holding the line on spending while looking to improve the efficient delivery of city services.”

The 2013-14 city budget calls for faster processing of requests to unfreeze library, seasonal recreation, accounting, summer youth employment and other jobs, as well as positions that produce revenue for the city.

Blumenfield's motion notes that the city is now expected to close its structural budget deficit, once estimated at $1 billion, by 2017-18.

The report to be presented to the council will look at the efforts of the Managed Hiring Committee, which implements the hiring freeze policy. The committee includes the mayor, city administrative officer and chief legislative analyst.

The type of details the CAO and CLA will report back on include the number of positions that have been requested to be unfrozen, the criteria for determining what positions to unfreeze, and any “time lags” that might occur in the process.