General managers of two LA city departments fired without warning

Mayor Karen Bass fired Jaime Pacheco-Orozco and Carolyn Hull, the general managers of L.A.’s Department of Aging and Department of Economic and Workforce Development, respectively, on Thursday, according to multiple sources inside the city government.

In budget negotiations earlier this year, Bass announced her intentions to consolidate the Departments of Aging, Economic and Workforce Development and Youth Development into the Community and Family Investment Department.

The mayor’s office wrote in its summary of the proposed budget in April that current programs in the departments are “not strategically aligned” and could be more efficient if housed under a single department.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez confirmed the firings and told LAist she thinks it is too soon to know if a single department would be more efficient. Rodriguez said the city should take a closer look at whether consolidating the departments actually would make things better.

The City Council still would have to approve a consolidation of the departments, Rodriguez told LAist.

An official at the Department of Aging confirmed to LAist that Pacheco-Orozco was placed on administrative leave. The Department of Economic and Workforce Development has not responded to LAist’s requests for comment.

It came as a surprise

Rodriguez, who has been a vocal critic of efforts to consolidate the departments, told LAist she was left in the dark about the changing department leadership.

“I was not informed about this action that was proposed, or even after it took place,” Rodriguez said. “I was informed by external city partners, not by anyone in the city.”

She is concerned the firings mean a loss of expertise at a critical time for the city, when she says the city should be “ramping up support for business and workforce development for the Olympics.”

The mayor’s office has not immediately replied to LAist’s request for comment on the firings.