By Jeff McDonald, The San Diego Union-Tribune The Tribune Content Agency

Career prosecutor Bryn Kirvin has been approved to take over as executive director of the San Diego Ethics Commission once current leader Sharon Spivak steps away early next year.

In a unanimous vote by the San Diego City Council, Kirvin's nomination by the commission won approval this week.

"It's a privilege to be here today," the San Diego County deputy district attorney told the council ahead of the vote. "I find deep meaning in being a public servant, and I am looking forward to continuing my service to the city of San Diego."

Kirvin was chosen from a group of more than 125 applicants to succeed Spivak, who announced her retirement from the city earlier this year.

Spivak, a former San Diego City Attorney's Office lawyer who took over as executive director of the Ethics Commission in 2020, will leave in March. Kirvin is scheduled to begin her new role in January and transition into the executive director's role over the following two months.

The Ethics Commission is the independent San Diego agency responsible for enforcing the city's campaign and lobbying rules, and it is authorized to issue fines to violators. It also conducts training and compliance sessions and provides advice to candidates, campaigns, lobbyists and others.

The change in leadership comes weeks after San Diego voters broadly approved Measure D, which included several important modifications to the Ethics Commission.

Among other things, the ballot measure changes the city charter to make sure a future City Council could not vote it out of existence. It also empowers the executive director to open investigations without a vote of the seven-member commission.

Perhaps most important, Measure D grants the commission the authority to set its own operating standards and guarantees that annual funding will be guaranteed.

The charter amendment, which won more than 70 percent support from voters, also gives the commission the authority to name its own executive. The City Council was asked to approve the Kirvin nomination because the Nov. 5 election results have not yet been certified.

Unrelated to the winning charter amendment, the council earlier this year agreed to triple the amount of fines the commission can award, to $15,000 per violation.

Kirvin, 52, earned her law degree from California Western School of Law and has worked at the San Diego County District Attorney's Office since 1997.

She was earning just over $210,000 a year as a prosecutor. The new Ethics Commission executive will be paid up to $241,000 a year.