Acting Director Named to Planning Department
Mayor Tom Bradley on Wednesday named a deputy in the city’s Planning Department as acting director of the powerful Los Angeles agency whose former head received a $200,000 consulting contract after he resigned.
Bradley said Melanie Fallon, a former planning director for the city of Santa Ana, will take over immediately for Norman Topping, who resigned in October and whose last day on the job was Monday.
Fallon, 40, will serve as acting director until a national search is completed for the permanent director.
From 1987 until Wednesday, Fallon was the deputy director for strategic planning and supervised 150 of the department’s 359 employees.
“As deputy director, Melanie has demonstrated her ability to understand and apply the latest planning practices to the city’s complex urban-planning discussions,” Bradley said in a statement announcement her appointment.
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