San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria on Thursday, Oct. 15, named Bethany Bezak as the city's next chief operating officer, filling a role that has been vacant since early 2025.

Bezak, 44, currently serves as the city's chief performance and logistics officer. Her appointment is subject to City Council confirmation. Council President Joe LaCava said he will schedule the vote for Monday, Oct. 19.

The COO oversees day-to-day city operations and reports directly to the mayor. That includes services La Jolla residents use regularly: street and sidewalk maintenance, city facilities, contracting and the Get It Done reporting app.

Gloria took over COO duties himself in February 2025 after firing then-COO Eric Dargan. The city faced a $150 million structural deficit at the time, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Gloria said the city has since nearly eliminated that deficit.

The appointment comes three weeks after more than 87,000 San Diego residents were incorrectly billed for waste services, Times of San Diego reported. The billing error drew sharp criticism from council members who argued Gloria was stretched too thin serving as both mayor and COO.

Councilmember Henry Foster III, the council's budget committee chair, said Gloria was in over his head managing daily operations, according to Times of San Diego. Foster said after the billing scandal that if Gloria "can't do the job, he needs to step down." Councilmember Kent Lee pressed Gloria to hire an experienced COO, saying "it's the mayor's responsibility to put his house in order."

Gloria disagreed. He told the Union-Tribune that mistakes are inevitable in a big city and pointed to past crises that occurred when the city did have a COO, including the pension scandal and the troubled 101 Ash Street purchase.

Bezak has spent nearly seven years with the city. She led the Transportation Department and its roughly 550 employees from 2023 to 2025. Before that, she rose from assistant deputy director to director of the Stormwater Department between 2020 and 2023. She holds degrees in civil engineering and architecture from Lawrence Technological University and a master's in biological systems engineering from Virginia Tech.

LaCava called Bezak "an expert in her field, a professional manager, and a consummate public servant," according to the mayor's office announcement. Councilmember Stephen Whitburn also backed the pick, calling her "impressive," Times of San Diego reported.

Mike Zucchet, general manager of the Municipal Employees Association, which represents 5,000 city white-collar workers, said Bezak "has a track record of solving problems with employees, not around them."

City officials have not disclosed Bezak's salary. The previous COO, Dargan, earned $401,000 annually, the Union-Tribune reported. The city later agreed to a $146,000 settlement with Dargan following a lawsuit alleging he was denied severance pay, according to Times of San Diego.