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New Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski has appointed another Salt Lake County government executive to a top post at Salt Lake City Hall.
Julio Garcia will replace Debra Alexander as director of the Department of Human Resources. Alexander has held the job for over eight years.
Garcia has been the associate director of Salt Lake County's Department of Human Resources since 2010. That department oversees 7,000 permanent and temporary employees, according to a statement from Biskupski.
"Julio is a forward-thinking manager. His experience in human resources has focused on employee learning ... performance management and employee engagement," Biskupski said. "Our city employees must feel safe and supported by their managers, and those managers must have the skills to promote an environment of growth and opportunity. Julio is the perfect person to help guide our city's workforce agency in that direction."
Garcia's appointment follows the hiring of Patrick Leary as Biskupski's chief of staff and David Litvack as deputy chief of staff. Biskupski also has named Mike Reberg as director of public utilities. All three men came from county government, as did Biskupski, who was an assistant to Sheriff Jim Winder.
Unlike Leary and Litvack, Reberg and Garcia, as department directors, need the City Council's approval.
Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said Thursday he's not worried about a brain drain at the county government complex.
"I'm actually excited about it because these are great hires Jackie has made," he said. "And it bodes well for positive collaboration between the county and the city."
In addition to his county post, Garcia, from 2012-2015, sat on the Salt Lake City Civil Service Commission, which oversees compliance with the civil-service statute as it relates to Salt Lake City police and fire employees.
Previously, Garcia was director of elections for Salt Lake County.