The Santa Monica City Council has approved a broad package of organizational changes aimed at embedding the gains of the city's Realignment Plan into permanent operations — restructuring key departments, relaunching a long-dormant employee training program, and standardizing a remote work policy that drew a wave of objections from city staff in the days before the vote.
City Manager Oliver Chi framed the changes as a necessary evolution in how Santa Monica runs itself. "The next challenge is converting those programs into institutional practice, to ensure that what we are building endures beyond the urgency and the moment that created it," he told the council.
The most sweeping structural change approved involves a comprehensive reorganization of the Public Works Department, which Chi described as the largest single adjustment in the update. Under the new structure, the city's downtown and beach maintenance teams will be merged into a single division, with enhanced cleaning services — including regular pressure washing and hand sweeping — extended beyond the downtown core to commercial corridors including Montana Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, Main Street, Pico Boulevard, and Ocean Park Boulevard. That expansion will be carried out in partnership with Chrysalis, a nonprofit workforce development organization, in what council member Dan Hall suggested also functions as a jobs program.
The Mobility Division, currently housed in the Department of Transportation, will be absorbed into Public Works Engineering, consolidating the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of public rights-of-way under a single department.
The city's 311 customer service operation will also transfer from the City Manager's Office to Public Works. Chi said roughly 70% of all 311 service requests are already Public Works-related, making the shift a straightforward efficiency gain.
Another significant element of the organizational update is the planned relaunch of the Santa Monica Institute, a citywide training program that was effectively shut down when the city cut more than 300 positions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HR Director Dana Brown told the council that the absence of consistent training had contributed to increased complaints, litigation exposure, and a loss of institutional knowledge across the organization.
Two new HR positions were approved to support the relaunch, along with funding for a learning management system. Brown said staff members who still list their Santa Monica Institute credentials on job applications — sometimes years after completing the training — illustrate both its reputation and its absence. "These things are perishable," she said. "It's really important that we're able to train up other people."
Perhaps no element of Tuesday's package generated more public comment than a proposed overhaul of the city's remote work program. Under the new policy, which will be negotiated with bargaining units before taking effect later this year, remote-eligible employees would work in the office Tuesday through Thursday, with Mondays and Fridays as remote days. Employees who cannot work remotely — roughly 70% of the city's workforce — would receive eight hours of non-cashable leave per month as an equity benefit. Employees who find the new structure incompatible with their circumstances would have access to an opt-out program providing six months of paid administrative leave following a voluntary resignation.
Multiple city employees wrote to the council in opposition before the meeting, citing commute burdens, caregiving responsibilities, and concerns about the policy's effect on recruitment and retention. Critics said the new structure risks creating unintended consequences, including decreased morale, perceptions of inequity, and increased turnover among experienced staff. Others said long commutes on top of 10 hour days can be a significant burden on families.
AFSCME Council 36 and the city's Management Team Associates jointly submitted a letter urging the council to pause the compensation-related changes pending completion of a citywide classification and compensation study, arguing that providing new benefits to some bargaining units while others received nothing "creates a perception of inequity across the organization."
Councilmember Ellis Raskin said he supported a return to in-person work in principle but called for flexibility, particularly for employees with caregiving needs. Councilmember Barry Snell asked management to be "very considerate" of staff who had made life decisions under the previous remote work arrangement.
Chi acknowledged the tensions but said the existing inconsistency — with some departments fully in-person and others offering largely unchecked flexibility — was itself a problem. He said the goal was to create a single, consistent standard across the organization, adding that the policy would not take effect until after bargaining unit negotiations are complete, likely in late 2026.
The council also approved a series of personnel and labor agreement adjustments designed to close equity gaps that had opened between bargaining units. Sworn police officers represented by the Police Officers Association will receive fully paid medical insurance, making them the last group in the city to gain that benefit. Firefighters with Local 1109, who previously traded a 2% wage adjustment to secure the same benefit, will have that concession addressed. Confidential unrepresented employees will receive a 3% premium, and several department head salaries — including the library director, communications director, and city clerk — will be raised to match the standard classification range.
The council also authorized a contract with Segal Company to conduct an enterprise-wide classification and compensation study, an action that had been a point of contention in recent labor negotiations.
Chi said the overall thrust of the organizational changes reflects a bet on the people already working for the city. "The talent is still there," he said. "What we need to do is really think about building a unique culture that's focused on people."