City Manager Hires New Assistant

A new assistant to the city manager began work on Wednesday, said City Manager Tom Bakaly in a press release issued Friday.

Diane Strickfaden, a 15-year veteran of human resources and supervisory roles in several Southern California cities, will oversee two city departments for Hermosa Beach, Human Resources and Community Resources, and provide complex technical assistance to Bakaly.

Strickfaden, who grew up in the South Bay, has worked for the cities of Lynwood, Lawndale, Azusa, Norwalk and South El Monte.

“We feel privileged to be able to hire someone with Diane’s skills and familiarity with South Bay,” said Bakaly in a press release. “The existing staff has done an excellent job of stepping up and filling in for the directors of the two departments while the leadership positions in those departments have been vacant, and I thank them for their efforts. Diane’s experience and her personal interest in recreation and human resources will bring a new vitality to both departments and help lead the city into the future.”

Strickfaden previously was the senior human resources analyst for the City of Lynwood, where she was responsible for the oversight of day-to-day human relations operations, including recruitment and selection; classification and compensation; labor relations; benefits administration; risk management, and training, according to the press release. She also served as a staff liaison to the appointed Personnel Board and managed a departmental budget of $4 million.

Prior to that, she worked as a consultant to area cities, performing human resources projects on a contract basis, and  also as the assistant to the city manager in Lawndale, overseeing all human relations operations and organizational strategic planning.

Strickfaden holds a master of public administration degree from California State University, Long Beach, and a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a California-certified labor relations master and an expert in public sector labor negotiations, according to the press release.