Who really does the City's work: Council Staff

The full-time, 15-member Los Angeles City Council has the highest paid city councilmembers in the nation. Locally, other cities (like Long Beach) have fulltime councilmembers with staff, but none are as noteworthy or grand as Los Angeles' political staffers. With the recent post by CD13's Joseph Bernardo aboutRockwood Park along with the regular postings of staffers onCD11's blog, I was reminded of the extensive amount of work that the staff of the Los Angeles City Councilmembers undertake. That, coupled with the recent three week summer hiatus the Council took, further revealed that though the Councilmembers may have a vision (some more than others) it really comes down to their staff to get the work done. (During the time of the council recess, the City still functioned even though council was not in session and many of the members were out of town.)

Some Councilmembers have 13 staff members, some have 24; but no matter the number of staff or how well they are paid, one thing holds true: a councilmember is only as good as his or her staff.

Now, most Councilmembers have a basic staff structure of a City Hall Staff (a Chief of Staff, an executive assistant/scheduler, a receptionist, a Planning Deputy, at least one legislative deputy (often more, though), a communications director, and council aides (to answer phones, process requests, etc.) and a Field Staff (District Director, Field Deputies, council aides, and support staff). Now, there are some variants on this formula, but this is generally what is followed. Often times, the City Hall staff is seen as the higher level staffers (going from "the field" to City Hall is often considered a promotion); but the Field staff is sometimes more important than the City Hall staff. It's the Field staff that can get things done that most impact our neighborhoods; they are the ones who know what's going on in the nooks and crannies of the communities in which they work. No matter what happens in City Hall, if the people in the field cannot represent the Councilmember well, follow through with requests from the community, and proactively work for the betterment of the community - then the Councilmember is doomed to failure. (And remember that this "staffer" job could be a career. Just look at the current City Councilmembers who were staffers: Ed Reyes, Tom LaBonge, Jan Perry, Greig Smith, & Herb Wesson were all once council staffers, and Alex Padilla, Wendy Greuel & Herb Wesson were staffers at other levels of government.)

So, the question is: what makes a good staffer?

Is a returned phone call good enough, or is the resolution of the issue what makes a staffer effective? Though the Councilmembers are the highest paid in the nation, the staff sometimes is not. Remember, we pay their salaries - are we getting our money's worth? The Field staff often puts in long hours at meetings, and City Hall staffers stay late into the night reading reports and researching legislation and issues.

There is also the question of whether the Councilmembers should have these staff members at all - or at least such a large number. Recently, they voted to support the removal of the staffers for the LA School Boardmembers as part of the Mayor's school takeover plan - was that hypocritical?

There are a lot of questions about these council staff members, but all this leads to the disclaimer that these people are just that: people. Often times the field staff are given a hard time, berated with questions, and publicly criticized because of things their boss has said and done. They are representatives of the elected officials, but I've seen them attacked as if they're the ones who voted for an action that does not meet the approval of a portion of the community. Or, even worse, an municipal improvement was installed (or not), and the community holds the staffer personally responsible. This makes some leave the job, and others can take it and continue on. In fact, some staffers move from office to office, especially with term limits in place.

Those that stay on and continue to work with and for the community have a certain passion for the job that is evident. They work long nights and go to every event in the field. Sometimes, it's a field deputy; sometimes it's the Chief of Staff. Regardless, there are some staffers that work as though their job is a privilege. They appear to be truly serving the people.

So this I put out to the masses in the City: What makes these staffers worth it? Who are the good ones and what do they do that makes it work?

(I have my observations, but I want to know what the non-City Nerds think.)

Pictured above: Council Staff from CD3 (Zine), many of whom have since left the office.