By Lookout Staff

December 8, 2025 -- City officials announced Friday that City Clerk Nikima Newsome will leave the post in January, marking the fifth department head to depart since July.

Newsome will leave the City, where she has worked since 2019, to persue "a new career opportunity" after serving as City Clerk for two years, the first six months on an interim basis.

During her tenure, Newsome implemented remote public comment and streamlined the public comment process for Council meetings, City officials said. She also developed the "Loving Democracy -- Why We Vote" program during the 2024 election.

“Niki has played an important role in helping keep the city’s work moving during some very difficult moments," Mayor Lana Negrete said in a statement.

"I appreciate the steady commitment she brought to her position and thank her for her service to Santa Monica,” Negrete said. “I wish her nothing but success ahead.”

Newsome's departure comes some four months after City Manager Oliver Chi became Santa Monica's chief administrator and began steering the City in a new direction, replacing department heads hired by his predecessor David White.

City Attorney Doug Slaon announced his resignation on July 24, the day Chi took the reins as City Manager, to return to Fresno, where he was hired as Counsel to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

On August 9, the City announced it was seeking a new director of Housing and Human Services to replace Heather Averick, who headed the new department overseeing homelessness and housing.

Two weeks later, on August 22, Police Chief Ramon Batista abruptly resigned saying only that "demands set by the new administration" were apparently at odds with his principles. He was replaced by Deputy Police Chief Darrick Jacob on an interim basis.

And the following week, Community Development Director Arminé Chaparyan resigned from the post she had held for seven months and was replaced on a permanent basis by longtime planning manager Jing Yeo.

While the City Manager hires Department heads, the seven-member City Council hires the City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk and needs five votes to fire them.

The Council is slated to begin discussions about the recruitment process for a new City Clerk in closed session Tuesday.