The City of Costa Mesa created a new constituent services staff team to better serve residents and hired a full-time chief of staff for the Mayor and City Council as well as three part-time council aides, who will assist the new seven-member council to respond to community concerns, assist with legislative research and outreach and help implement the community’s priorities for neighborhood improvement.
Connor Lock, currently a legislative analyst for the Long Beach City Council, will become the City Council’s new chief of staff.
In this role, he will be responsible for managing constituent services, legislative research and analysis, coordination with Federal and State offices, special projects and ensuring the Mayor and Councilmembers are fully briefed and prepared for council meetings, press events, and community meetings.
“With a population of about 115,000 and a budget of more than $160 million, the amount of work expected of the Costa Mesa City Council continues to expand,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “Add to this the addition of two new council members, and the timing was right to increase the resources and support for the council to better serve the community. I look forward to working closely with the new chief of staff and council aides.”
Prior to serving as legislative analyst in Long Beach, Lock was the political analyst for Long Beach’s Vice Mayor Dee Andrews and was an intern to Congressman Adam Schiff. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public administration from Cal State Long Beach. Lock will start with the city on Tuesday Jan. 22.
The newly hired part-time council aides are Hadassa Jakher, Alberto Ruiz and Ivis Torres. The new aides will work up to 20 hours a week and will assist City Council Members with constituent services, outreach, response to requests and analysis and perform other related duties as assigned.
Jakher is currently a planning intern for Community Development in the city of Menifee and prior to that she was a Public Service Fellow for the Western Riverside Council of Governments and a Political and Economic Intern for the US Consulate General Barcelona. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government and Spanish and minors in Latin American Studies, International Relations and Law & Society from Cornell University.
Ruiz was most recently a Senior Field Representative for the Assembly Majority Floor Leader in the 57th Assembly District and prior to that he was a Policy Intern for the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies in Sacramento. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from UCLA and he is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Policy program at UCI.
Torres is a Costa Mesa resident and is currently the NICU Inpatient Unit Secretary at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Prior to her work at CHOC, she was the Program Coordinator for Save Our Youth in Costa Mesa. She has extensive volunteer experience in the PTA at Paularino School and Save Our Youth. She has an Associates of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts from Golden West College and she is in the process of enrolling in a university to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree.
All three council aides will start on Thursday Jan. 24.