LA Animal Watch: The Search for the New GM Goes On

As you know, I have a few media contacts to whom I feed information to and vice versa. Some of them have used info I gave them as the basis for stories about LAAS, but a lot of the time, the stories are killed, like the Daily News story about Jimmy. After Dana interviewed Jimmy, and a DN photographer spent three whole days with Jimmy and me, the story was killed.

Here is what I have been able to piece together about the GM hiring process for Animal Services.

The search is for real. Kathy Davis may be a candidate--I don't know--but there will be other candidates and hopefully some qualified. I, and many others were sent a questionair about what we thought were important qualities we thought the GM should have.

The Mayor is looking to hire six department head positions, with the police chief being number seven. The City has hired a head hunting firm to do a search, which was initiated in August or September after Villaraigosa gave the green light.

The headhunter will be proactive in reaching out to known experts in the field, and I assume that means Winograd and his protogees, such as Bonnie Brown and Susan Kogut, as well as Nathan's enemies, such as Carl Friedman, ex head of San Francisco's Animal Care and Control, as well as the other "usual suspects" like Francis Batista and maybe Ed Sayres and Pacelle, two non-friends of Nathan.

They will be contacted as the job description is being formulated as well as to seek out candidate referrals. They will also accept unsolicited referrals or expressions of interest. The headhunters will interview and thoroughly screen any they consider serious candidates to narrow the field down to a manageable number. That is if they can get actual good candidates, which is by no means a given considering the reputation LA has.

I also understand that the Mayor has put an emphasis on the search for a new GM, and is involving a lot more people than usual in the formulation and search process.

The new police chief will probably be announced Monday by the way.

2 comments:

Anonymous29 October, 2009
"...Bonnie Brown and Susan Kogut."
Tell us more! What are their qualifications and do they have a chance?
Remember, an effective GM needs to be somewhat of an insider [e.g. background in law enforcement, not so much the humane community] with the ability to guide district managers and line supervisors into compliance and implementation of new programs. I know you'd love someone from a humane society background, but to effectively lead these troops to treat the animals more humanely, the GM almost needs to be in law enforcement already.
LAAS also needs greatly improved management of volunteers, someone who already has experience handling non-paid personnel in this emotionally-charged enterprise.

-- Son of Naysayer
Anonymous08 November, 2009
The Department of Animal Services does not need another outsider. Outsiders equate to failure due to their inablity to understand (or even want to understand) all aspects of the Department and its employees who care for the animals, given that the condition, treatment and rapid adoption of the animals in their care should be the main priority for any General Manager. Outsiders have failed and the Department is tired of failure. They need someone who is currently employed by the Department, with over 20 years experience in Shelter and Administrative services and who has knowledge of the direction this Department needs to go to achieve no-kill because they understand and have experienced the past. Linda Gordon is the only candidate that should not only be considered but appointed as the new General Manager. Why waste taxpayers money, of which the City doesn't have, when the best person for the position is availble right now.