Yasmin Beers was appointed as Glendale’s city manager on Tuesday night, becoming the first female to hold the position in the city’s history.

Beers has worked for the city for over 30 years, starting in 1987 as a part-time employee of the Library Dept. More recently, Beers had been serving as interim city manager since November after Scott Ochoa resigned from the City of Glendale to serve as manager to the City of Ontario. Prior to serving as interim city manager, Beers served for 10 years as deputy city manager and had since served as assistant city manager after being appointed in 2010.

“I am so happy for you but I am more happy for the City of Glendale,” Councilmember Ara Najarian said. “We have a great city manager in you.”

City staff did explore the possibility of an external hire for the position but none were found to be as qualified as Beers.

“We wanted to make sure that we were not overlooking a Babe Ruth somewhere out there in the city manager world,” Najarian said. “None of them held a candle to you.”

“It’s not about being any woman; it’s about being the right woman,” Councilmember Paula Devine remarked. “And you happen to be the right woman at the right time.”

In other news, council also voted to award a $500,000 contract for two years to As Needed Services to American Reclamation, Inc. to assist the city’s Public Works and Integrated Waste Management division. City residents have been allowed to request bulk item removal by the city with a three-day notice. Over the past three years the city has seen a large, and steady, increase in these requests. In the second fiscal quarter of 2017-18, Glendale completed over 15,000 requests alone, marking a 37% increase from the previous year. Those looking to submit a request for bulk item removal can do so by contacting the city’s Integrated Waste Management division by phone or by submitting an online request at no cost.

Glendale Fire Dept. will be opening a six-week long academy in order to fill the seven current vacancies. The academy is aimed at firefighter paramedics who are currently in possession of either National Registry or State of California paramedic licensure in addition to Firefighter 1 certificates. Currently, the department has been required to pay overtime to the existing firefighters to cover the vacancies, causing higher costs to the department. The academy is expected to cost about $333,000 and will commence April 2.