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Wendy Greuel
8th City Controller of Los Angeles
Incumbent
Assumed office  July 1, 2009
Preceded by	Laura N. Chick
Member of the Los Angeles City Council, Second District
In office April 4, 2002 – July 1, 2009
Preceded by	Joel Wachs
Succeeded by	Vacant
Born	May 23, 1961 (1961-05-23) (age 48) Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Dean Schramm
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Website	http://www.lacity.org/ctr

Wendy J. Greuel (born May 23, 1961 in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California) is the current Los Angeles City Controller and former President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 2nd District, which includes portions of the San Fernando Valley.^[1]

[edit] Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Wendy Greuel was born in the San Fernando Valley, and her first experience with public service began as student body president of Kennedy High School. She continued her education at University of California, Los Angeles, during which time she held internships in the office of Councilman Joel Wachs and Mayor Tom Bradley. Upon graduation, Greuel worked in Mayor Bradley’s office for 10 more years. She was the Mayor's liaison to the City Council, City Departments and the community on public policy issues including child care, the homeless, the elderly, and health issues. She was also instrumental in the creation of LA'S BEST, a nationally recognized after school program now serving school children throughout the city of Los Angeles.

From 1993 to 1997, Greuel worked in the administration of President Bill Clinton. She served with Cabinet Secretary Henry Cisneros as the Field Operations Officer for Southern California for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) where she became involved in projects offering opportunities for homeownership, job creation, economic development, and social services for the less fortunate. She was instrumental in coordinating HUD's 1994 Northridge Earthquake emergency response and recovery programs. In 1997, Greuel joined the Corporate Affairs Department of DreamWorks SKG where she worked on the company's government and community affairs, coordinating the company's legislative activities at the local, state, and national levels.

[edit] City Council

In 2002, Greuel won a run-off election against former Assemblyman, now Councilman Tony Cardenas by 225 votes to fill the remainder of the term of Second District Councilman Joel Wachs. She was reelected in 2003 and 2007 and served until July 2009 when she assumed the office of City Controller.

At the time of her departure from the City Council, her committee assignments included Chair of the Transportation Committee, Vice Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, Member of the Audits and Governmental Efficiency and Energy and the Environment Committees, and Chair of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Business Tax Reform.

While in office, Greuel created the Office of Public Safety, which consolidated all city-operated security forces aside from the Police Department and created the Police Fund, a program through which any elected official could root out inefficiencies and allocate the money saved to the hiring of new police officers. Greuel also developed the Stolen Vehicle Recovery Program, which enabled Department of Transportation officers to tow stolen vehicles instead of LAPD officers, saving the LAPD valuable time that could be better spent fighting crime. She launched a district-wide anti-graffiti campaign and witnessed a significant increase in the number of neighborhood watch organizations in her district. She implemented a Safety Valet program and upgraded safety signage at all public elementary schools in her district. Greuel also implemented the 50/50 sidewalk program, which expedited sidewalk repairs if neighbors agreed to contribute 50% of the cost.

On the transportation front, Greuel lobbied for funds to complete a carpool lane along the 405 freeway and to implement a bus only lane along Wilshire Boulevard. She added 450 left turn signals to city streets and led the synchronization of city traffic lights.

Working with Council President Eric Garcetti, Greuel led efforts to reform the city business tax and cut taxes for over 60% of all businesses. She also created tax incentives to keep film and entertainment production in Los Angeles and led anti-piracy efforts at the municipal level.

Greuel created the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Investigative Unit in the City Controller's office and banned political fundraising among city commissioners.

[edit] City Controller

Greuel defeated Nick Patsaouras and Kathleen Suzy Evans on March 3, 2009 to become the next City Controller of Los Angeles. She took office on July 1, 2009. [All of the following information about her tenure as Controller was taken directly from AP, LA Times, and LA Daily News articles.]

Just one week into her service as City Controller, Michael Jackson's memorial service was held in Los Angeles. Greuel found that nearly $49,000 had been spent on police officers' lunches, which were ordered from a restaurant outside of city limits. Her office called a local sandwich shop that could have provided lunches for less than $17,500, which would have amounted to a significant savings and a boon to local business. She subsequently called on the City Council to create a policy declaring who should pay for city services associated with such events.

In late July, Greuel announced that her delinquent taxpayer program had successfully collected nearly $3 million from 16 delinquent taxpayers in just four months. She stated that with over $107 million in delinquent taxes from 126 tax scofflaws still to be collected, she would remain vigilant in cracking down on tax cheats.

Also in late July, Greuel had to deal with the fact that about $6 million in city checks dated July 24 that were sent to vendors were returned for insufficient funds. Greuel's office said the problem relates to the transition as Wells Fargo took over Wachovia Bank operations. They informed people to redeposit the checks and sent letters of apology.

Greuel's first departmental audit released in September examined the operations of the Los Angeles Convention Center. It found that the Center wasted more than $1 million in taxpayer money by failing to properly control employee overtime and lacked a system for keeping track of its fixed assets, some of which could not be found. It also found the that convention center has no clear policy for oversight of fee waivers and recommended that a flexible demand-based pricing program be implemented, allowing management to fill the Convention Center during slower times by reducing rental prices.

Her next audit came in November and served as a follow-up on previous Controller Laura Chick's audit of the Los Angeles Police Department's DNA rape kit backlog. Greuel found that the LAPD cleared almost two-thirds of its blacklog but called for continued improvements and changes in how the LAPD catalogs the cases. She recommended the LAPD change its database on how it tracks crimes, saying it now has three separate databases where one would help improve efficiency. Then LAPD Chief nominee Charlie Beck, now Chief of Police, agreed with her and announced that he was in the process of putting her recommendations into effect.

In December, City Controller Wendy Greuel released an audit that found the city pays its bills too early, leading to a loss of up to $8.1 million a year in interest and earnings on investments. Auditors said under a policy to pay bills within 30 days of receiving the invoice, the city was at times paying 10 to 20 days before they were due. In a separate audit, Greuel also found the city continues to fail to take advantage of volume discounts and computerized payment systems that could lead to more efficiency and cost savings.

Perhaps most significant during her tenure has been her legal battle with current City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. The issue began when former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo refused to let former City Controller Laura Chick audit the workers' compensation program in his office. Chick responded by issuing subpoenas to six Delgadillo employees. Delgadillo then sued her. In mid December, LA County Superior Court Judge Mark V. Mooney found that the City Charter, the city's primary governing blueprint, did not grant the Controller the power to evaluate the city attorney's handling of workers' compensation issues or for that matter, audits on the city attorney or any other elected official, including the mayor and members of the City Council. Greuel announced that she would appeal the decision. Former Controller Greuel issued a statement upset with the ruling and supporting Greuel's upcoming legal appeal.

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Los Angeles City Controller's Official Website
• Wendy Greuel for City Controller