Costa Mesa officials confirmed Monday that Finance Director Carol Molina is no longer employed by the city, leaving questions about how the city intends to pass its annual operating budget ahead of a June deadline.
Spokesman Tony Dodero confirmed the news, responding to an email sent to City Manager Ceclia Gallardo Daly and City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow after rumors of Molina’s abrupt departure began to circulate on Friday afternoon.
Further details about whether she may have resigned or was terminated were not provided by Dodero, who cited the confidentiality of personnel matters.
Reached by phone on Monday, Molina declined to comment on the situation. But one person close to City Hall, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, told the Daily Pilot Molina had been having conversations with city leadership about significant overspending in the budget prior to her leaving.
The finance head is the latest in a string of high-level exits that began in May of last year with the sudden firing of City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison. The ousted leader was supposed to have selected a successor to outgoing Costa Mesa Police Chief Ron Lawrence, who retired from the department on June 27.
Instead, the Costa Mesa City Council in a June 3 closed session meeting appointed Gallardo Daly, then working as assistant city manager, to serve as interim city manager. Three weeks later, in that capacity, Gallardo Daly appointed police Capt. Joyce LaPointe to serve as an interim replacement for Lawrence, city officials reported.
Both appointees shifted into permanent positions by December, with the City Council approving Gallardo Daly’s ascension on Dec. 2 and the new city manager tapping LaPointe as the permanent head of CMPD two days later.
Another departure was announced in October 2025, when Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Chief Dan Stefano shared his plans to leave the department at the end of the year after 12 years of service. Stefano worked until Jan. 30 and was succeeded on an interim basis by former Asst. Chief Jason Pyle, another Gallardo Daly appointee.
Exactly what steps city officials may take to ensure the fiscal year 2026-27 budget is balanced and submitted to the state on time remains to be seen.
Molina — hired under Farrell Harrison in early 2020 as a budget and purchasing manager — brought more than two decades of municipal finance experience to the table. She’d previously managed budgets for the city of Huntington Beach, where Farrell Harrison worked as chief financial officer and, eventually, assistant city manager.