Lane Dilg Appointed Santa Monica's Interim City Manager

SANTA MONICA, CA — Lane Dilg starts her week as Santa Monica's Interim City Manager today, following the announcement Friday from former City Manager Rick Cole that he was stepping down as the city's budget crisis grows during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Santa Monica City Council accepted Rick Cole’s offer to step down from his role as City Manager, voting unanimously to appoint Dilg as Interim City Manager. The Santa Monica resident stepped in to assume the duties of Interim City Manager immediately and her contract and salary will be negotiated.

"In a sudden local challenge embedded in an ongoing global pandemic, Santa Monica is fortunate indeed to have as Interim City Manager someone as qualified and prepared to lead as Lane Dilg," Mayor Kevin McKeown said in a news release.

"Councilmembers, city staff, and community members who have worked with Lane during her time as City Attorney know her to be knowledgeable, wise, committed, trustworthy, and motivated by deep heartfelt love for this City where she lives with her family," McKeown said.

In her new role, Dilg will be responsible for the daily administration of the City of Santa Monica and will also serve as Director of Emergency Services throughout the local emergency as Santa Monica responds to the coronavirus public health emergency.

"Lane has already had a leadership role in Santa Monica’s Emergency Operations Center, implementing public health directives, keeping essential services functioning throughout the City, and helping plan for the recovery from this pandemic and the economic crisis it has triggered," McKeown said. "On behalf of the Council, I thank her deeply for her willingness to take on even more of the difficult work ahead of us, and call on everyone in our Santa Monica community to welcome Lane Dilg to a job that might be impossible for someone not so outstandingly qualified and prepared."

About 92,000 people live in Sannta Monica, and Dilg will also oversee the implementation of Santa Monica City Council ordinances and policies, 14 departments and also the city's operational budget.

"I appreciate the Council’s faith in me," Dilg said in a city news release. "We have an extraordinarily challenging road ahead. COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we work, the needs of the people we serve, and has left a devastating hole in the City budget. But our City team is strong, and we will get through this crisis with tenacity and heart. Santa Monica has a bright future. I look forward to working with the City Council to bring that future in as quickly as we possibly can."

The City Council selected Lane Dilg as City Attorney in June 2017. Dilg's team defended the City’s Home-Sharing Ordinance against Airbnb before the Ninth Circuit and reached a settlement, protecting long-time residents and limited affordable housing.

Her other work includes strengthening and expanding tenant protections, implementing the Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance and Shared Mobility Pilot Program and joining cities in supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program.

Before joining Santa Monica, Dilg served as Senior Counsel to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where she advised executive leadership at UCLA and UCLA Health across the broad range of the UCLA’s education, research and administrative activities.

Dilg has also prosecuted federal public corruption, organized crime, and human trafficking cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California and served as Counsel to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where she advised Senator Feinstein in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and during confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Dilg began her career as a civil litigator at the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and Susman Godfrey, LLP and as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher.

She has a law degree from Yale Law School, a master’s degree in theology from Harvard Divinity School and a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Don't miss local and statewide news about coronavirus developments and precautions. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters.