Politics
City fills fire, finance posts
New chief is named to lead firefighters, while Burbank official will take the top money spot.
By Jason Wells
CITY HALL — Just one vacancy remains on Glendale’s executive management team after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously confirmed a new fire chief and director of finance.
Both of the new hires are Glendale residents, despite a nationwide search to fill the positions. Bob Elliot takes the helm of the Finance Department after working as assistant financial services director for Burbank. Harold Scoggins takes over as fire chief after rising through the Glendale Fire ranks for the past 18 years.
“He has by all accounts proven himself to be a leader,” City Manager Jim Starbird said of Scoggins at the council meeting.
As Glendale’s first black fire chief, Scoggins takes over a department that has found itself in the cross hairs of several critics who over the past six months have become increasingly vocal in their assertions that current staffing policies fuel overtime costs and organizational inefficiencies.
Earlier Tuesday, Mayor John Drayman called the critiques a “white elephant” as the council begins to work through what city officials say will be an involved series of budget study sessions in which a forecasted $9.4-million budget shortfall must be made up before July 1.
He scheduled a 30-minute block of time for recurring speaker Bruce Philpot, a former Pasadena police chief, to give his presentation on how Glendale Fire should change its staffing policies. Glendale firefighters counter that incorporating volunteers into their response teams would degrade their effectiveness.
The expected response to Philpot, coupled with promises from the City Council to scrutinize the issue of overtime pay, was not lost on Scoggins, who said he was eager to stabilize the department, which had to grapple with the sudden retirement of former Fire Chief Chris Gray in August 2007.
Don Biggs, who retired as assistant fire chief in 2004 before taking over as head of emergency services for Warner Bros. in Burbank, was tapped to serve as interim chief shortly after Gray’s departure.
“We know we have several significant issues facing us, and we’re going to take the necessary steps to address those and serve the public to the best of our ability,” Scoggins said.
Scoggins, who is tentatively scheduled to take part in a ceremonial changing of the guard on May 7, obtained a master’s degree in public administration while serving in the Fire Department, where he held positions as engineer, fire captain and battalion chief.
Elliot also takes over a department in flux.
Senior Internal Auditor Bill Fox took over for Ron Ahlers as acting director of finance two weeks ago to oversee a re-evaluation of current finances and the capital improvement budget as the City Council gears up to work through the numbers and produce a balanced budget for fiscal year 2008-09 on July 1.
On Tuesday, a readjustment to the general-fund reserve — from $7.67 million to $2.39 million — was announced to the City Council during a budget overview.
Elliot will miss much of this year’s budget process as he helps Burbank, which is without a permanent finance director, complete its own annual exercise.
“There’s a certain irony to all of this,” Drayman said.
Elliot will officially come on board mid-June, with Ahlers — who was praised Tuesday for his hard work — assuming a position as his chief assistant.
“This really is a dream job,” Elliot said.
Even with diminished reserves and national concerns over an economic recession, Elliot said after the meeting that he looked forward to guiding a city that has “solid revenue sources.”
That would include the upcoming Americana at Brand, which is scheduled to open to the public Friday.
“These types of developments are few and far between,” he said.
The appointment of Scoggins and Elliot comes three months after the council confirmed Glenn Steiger as director of Glendale Water & Power, and leaves the director of library services as the only remaining vacant executive position. Cindy Cleary is serving as acting director in that post.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
Both of the new hires are Glendale residents, despite a nationwide search to fill the positions. Bob Elliot takes the helm of the Finance Department after working as assistant financial services director for Burbank. Harold Scoggins takes over as fire chief after rising through the Glendale Fire ranks for the past 18 years.
“He has by all accounts proven himself to be a leader,” City Manager Jim Starbird said of Scoggins at the council meeting.
As Glendale’s first black fire chief, Scoggins takes over a department that has found itself in the cross hairs of several critics who over the past six months have become increasingly vocal in their assertions that current staffing policies fuel overtime costs and organizational inefficiencies.
Earlier Tuesday, Mayor John Drayman called the critiques a “white elephant” as the council begins to work through what city officials say will be an involved series of budget study sessions in which a forecasted $9.4-million budget shortfall must be made up before July 1.
He scheduled a 30-minute block of time for recurring speaker Bruce Philpot, a former Pasadena police chief, to give his presentation on how Glendale Fire should change its staffing policies. Glendale firefighters counter that incorporating volunteers into their response teams would degrade their effectiveness.
The expected response to Philpot, coupled with promises from the City Council to scrutinize the issue of overtime pay, was not lost on Scoggins, who said he was eager to stabilize the department, which had to grapple with the sudden retirement of former Fire Chief Chris Gray in August 2007.
Don Biggs, who retired as assistant fire chief in 2004 before taking over as head of emergency services for Warner Bros. in Burbank, was tapped to serve as interim chief shortly after Gray’s departure.
“We know we have several significant issues facing us, and we’re going to take the necessary steps to address those and serve the public to the best of our ability,” Scoggins said.
Scoggins, who is tentatively scheduled to take part in a ceremonial changing of the guard on May 7, obtained a master’s degree in public administration while serving in the Fire Department, where he held positions as engineer, fire captain and battalion chief.
Elliot also takes over a department in flux.
Senior Internal Auditor Bill Fox took over for Ron Ahlers as acting director of finance two weeks ago to oversee a re-evaluation of current finances and the capital improvement budget as the City Council gears up to work through the numbers and produce a balanced budget for fiscal year 2008-09 on July 1.
On Tuesday, a readjustment to the general-fund reserve — from $7.67 million to $2.39 million — was announced to the City Council during a budget overview.
Elliot will miss much of this year’s budget process as he helps Burbank, which is without a permanent finance director, complete its own annual exercise.
“There’s a certain irony to all of this,” Drayman said.
Elliot will officially come on board mid-June, with Ahlers — who was praised Tuesday for his hard work — assuming a position as his chief assistant.
“This really is a dream job,” Elliot said.
Even with diminished reserves and national concerns over an economic recession, Elliot said after the meeting that he looked forward to guiding a city that has “solid revenue sources.”
That would include the upcoming Americana at Brand, which is scheduled to open to the public Friday.
“These types of developments are few and far between,” he said.
The appointment of Scoggins and Elliot comes three months after the council confirmed Glenn Steiger as director of Glendale Water & Power, and leaves the director of library services as the only remaining vacant executive position. Cindy Cleary is serving as acting director in that post.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
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