scandal<\/a> and other city missteps could have been avoided if Gloria hadn\u2019t been performing the dual roles of mayor and chief operating officer for the last 20 months.<\/p>\n\u201cThis mayor has proven \u2014 has shown time and time again \u2014 that he does not have the experience, the knowledge, the skills to lead the operations of this city,\u201d Councilmember Henry Foster said last month in the wake of the trash billing scandal.<\/p>\n
Gloria took over the city\u2019s day-to-day operations after firing chief operating officer Eric Dargan in early 2025. Dargan\u2019s departure came with the city facing a $150 million deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment, I thought the most important thing for me to do was to become personally involved in the day-to-day operations of the city and try to address the significant challenges,\u201d Gloria said Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s what was needed during a difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said the city has essentially eliminated its structural deficit since he began performing the duties of COO, and\u00a0he believes there is now a stronger leadership team in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this appointment represents completion of the work to stabilize the city,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cI think this is going to be a great next chapter for my administration as well as the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Gloria fired Dargan, San Diego had had a separate COO ever since the city switched to a strong mayor form of government two decades ago.<\/p>\n
Gloria said he was skeptical that the trash billing scandal \u2014 which emerged when The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that tens of\u00a0thousands of customers had been\u00a0overcharged because of a technical glitch \u2014 would have been avoided if the city had had a COO.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big city \u2014 there will be challenges and mistakes,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on. We have 12,00 employees and a budget of $6 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the city\u2019s pension scandal, its troubled purchase of 101 Ash Street and\u00a0devastating 2024 flooding all took place when the city had a COO.<\/p>\n
Gloria said what matters is that he and Bezak are committed to transparency and accountability when mistakes happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe acknowledged it, apologized for it and fixed it,\u201d Gloria said of how he handled the trash scandal, with help from Bezak. \u201cThat\u2019s the approach that should be taken by serious people running a large organization like the city of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezak, who now serves as chief performance and logistics officer, said Wednesday that she\u2019s confident she can lead the sprawling city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about continuing the momentum forward that we\u2019ve already been able to demonstrate in lots of different areas across our city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In her current role, she has been overseeing transportation, general services, purchasing, contracting and data analytics \u2014 including the city\u2019s Get It Done! tipster app.<\/p>\n
Bezak led the Transportation Department and its approximately 550 employees from 2023 to 2025. From 2020 to 2023, she served in successive leadership roles in the Stormwater Department, advancing from assistant deputy director to deputy director and then director.<\/p>\n
Before coming to San Diego, she worked as a consultant in the private sector and as a top official for the water and sewer agency that serves Washington, D.C., and its suburbs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve appreciated the diversity of some of my experience because it\u2019s allowed me to bring some creativity and innovation into the role,\u201d Bezak said.<\/p>\n
Bezak said she\u2019s grateful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinuing to work alongside Mayor Gloria and this leadership team will be the greatest privilege of my career,\u201d said Bezak, who lives in Pacific Beach with her husband.<\/p>\n
When asked about taking over COO duties for a mayor who is termed out in 2028, Bezak said she expects to be kept on by whoever succeeds Gloria.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m expecting to establish operational excellence in a way that any new mayor would come in and say \u2018this is the city\u2019s leadership team we want moving forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The labor union representing the city\u2019s 5,000 white-collar workers \u2014 the Municipal Employees Association \u2014 is praising Bezak\u2019s promotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBethany knows what our members face in the field every day, and she has a track record of solving problems with employees, not around them,\u201d said Mike Zucchet, MEA\u2019s general manager.<\/p>\n
The region\u2019s top labor leader is also praising the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cBethany is a proven leader who has managed large public workforces with respect and delivered real improvements in neighborhoods that have waited too long for them,\u201d said Brigette Browning, leader of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a good decision for workers in San Diego and the communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials haven\u2019t disclosed what Bezak\u2019s annual salary will be. Dargan was paid $401,000 annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three weeks after a trash over-billing\u00a0scandal prompted loud calls for San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to give up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,23,205,100,13,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-497271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}