Los Angeles council honors Tom Connor on retirement; confirms new city engineer

The Los Angeles City Council honored Tom Connor on his retirement after 31 years with the city and confirmed a new city engineer during its April meeting.

Connor, whose work largely centered in the Department of Transportation and most recently the Bureau of Engineering, was praised by multiple councilmembers for his experience, integrity and collegial leadership. Councilmember Walters introduced a commendatory resolution noting Connor’s decades of service and role mentoring staff. Councilmember Sekowsky said Connor is “a credit” to city employees and that his civility and intelligence will be missed.

“I’d like to thank the mayor and the city council and all the people of Los Angeles for giving me the opportunity to be a public servant in this great city,” Connor said, adding that he looks forward to working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “You can see the MTA Headquarters building right out the window here. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we try to bring the very best transportation services to Southern California.”

Separately, the council confirmed the city’s nominee for the permanent city engineer position by recorded vote. The newly confirmed city engineer thanked the council and said he intends to follow the work of Connor and build on existing projects.

The council took the confirmations and tributes early in the meeting; council members called the retirement an opportunity to recognize institutional knowledge passed to newer staff. The council then proceeded to its consent and regular agenda business.