WHAT HAPPENED
The Los Angeles City Council's May 27, 2026 meeting opened with a state-mandated public hearing on citywide civil-service vacancy rates, featuring testimony from the Coalition of LA City Unions and a presentation from the Personnel Department, before moving to a light agenda that included the confirmation of a new general manager for Animal Services and a formal resolution finalizing adoption of the new fiscal year's city budget. Twelve members were present for most votes.
THE VACANCY HEARING
Representing the Coalition of LA City Unions, SEIU Local 721's Steve Koffroth, Librarians Guild president Lisa Palumbo, and coalition representative Charles Leon told the council that seven bargaining units currently exceed the state's 20% vacancy threshold that triggers additional reporting requirements: plant equipment operation and repair (MOU9), service and crafts (MOU14), fire chief officers (MOU22), Los Angeles police officers (MOU28), management attorneys (MOU32), executive administrative assistants (MOU37), and park rangers (MOU65). They said some classifications, including wastewater treatment operators and wastewater mechanics in the Bureau of Sanitation, have vacancy rates above 30%, and that some civil service exams have not been re-administered since 2017. The coalition said the city had promised to restore recession-era job cuts back in 2015 and never fully did so, and asked the council to fund additional personnel-department staff to administer exams rather than pursue broader charter changes to the civil service testing system.
Personnel Department representative Steve Rivera described the department's recruitment pipeline, including online job-matching tools, social media recruiting, and a partnership with SoCal Trades to recruit at high schools, and said the department processes 85,000 to 90,000 applications and roughly 210 exam requests a year, opening about 185 to 190 bulletins annually. He said the department has reduced the average time from a bulletin opening to an eligible list being established from about 185 days to roughly 125 to 130 days over three years, but that a 25% cut to his own department's staff this fiscal year, roughly 28 positions, limits further progress. Council Member Ysabel Jurado questioned whether standardized testing requirements create racially disparate barriers to city employment and pressed for faster turnaround times, and Council Member Eunisses Hernandez asked about the Targeted Local Hire and Bridge to Jobs programs, which admit participants through on-the-job training rather than written exams; Rivera said retention for that pathway is in the "high 90 percent" range. Council Member Bob Blumenfield asked whether charter changes could enable faster, "on demand" hiring; Rivera said expanding continuous, campus-based hiring exams would help more than structural change, and noted a charter provision currently prevents the department from directly certifying candidates who already hold a relevant state license or certification without a separate city exam.
ANIMAL SERVICES GENERAL MANAGER
The council unanimously confirmed Gabrielle Amster as general manager of the Department of Animal Services. Council Member Blumenfield, sponsoring the nomination, cited this year's budget restorations for the department, including full funding for the Dogs Playing for Life program, a nearly 20% increase in the spay/neuter budget, and additional funding for the animal welfare trust fund's food and medicine accounts. Amster, formerly director of the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace and executive director of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, said she would prioritize keeping owned pets with their families and moving shelter animals more quickly into homes, citing a forthcoming grant from the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society.
CONTESTED VOTES
The council adopted a Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee report directing Innovation Fund money toward a Los Angeles Police Department Booking Innovation Team pilot project, 11-1, with Council Member Eunisses Hernandez, who called the item for a separate vote, opposed. The item was not otherwise debated on the floor.
The council also adopted a resolution formally finalizing the city's newly adopted annual budget, continued from the prior week's session, by a vote of 10-1, with Council Member Traci Park, who called the item for a separate vote, opposed. Council Member Curren Price recused himself from the vote, citing his own work in housing and his wife's employer's past work with an organization tied to the budget items.
OTHER BUSINESS
The council approved two closed-session settlements: up to $160,000 in Dominique Duca v. City of Los Angeles, and up to $185,000 in Nazelli Keradjian, et al. v. City of Los Angeles. Council Member Adrin Nazarian thanked colleagues for supporting the formation of an ad hoc committee on the entertainment, filming, and creative industries, crediting Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson for proposing it.
Council Member Imelda Padilla recognized the Polytechnic High School girls' soccer team for winning the LA City Section Interscholastic Division 4 championship, noting the team outscored its playoff opponents 26-3 across five games. The council adjourned in memory of Mike Lanning, scoutmaster of Pacific Palisades' Troop 223 for more than seven decades, who died in March 2026 at age 93; Council Member Traci Park said his troop had produced more than 1,000 Eagle Scouts.