Council ready to vote

Alicia Robinson

Monday’s City Council meeting is likely to draw a crowd -- if only

the 31 people who will be considered for spots on the city’s Planning

and Parks and Recreation commissions.

The council will vote on new five-member slates for each of the

two commissions. After using a system of direct appointments by

council members for nearly two years, the council in December chose

to return to picking commissioners by a majority vote of the whole

council.

Many familiar names are on the list of applicants, including

current Planning Commissioners Bruce Garlich and Bill Perkins, and

all five current parks and recreation commissioners -- Byron de

Arakal, Mirna Burciaga, James Fisler, Mark Harris and Wendy Leece.

Well-known former Planning Commissioner Walter Davenport, fall

City Council candidates Samuel Clark and Terry Shaw, and council

watchdogs Eleanor Egan and Martin H. Millard also applied for

commission spots.

Because many of the applicants have been active in the city

before, council members chose not to interview them all. Councilwomen

Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley joined up to interview 11 prospective

commissioners.

“Each of us individually decided who we wanted to interview [and]

some of them overlapped,” Foley said. “I only interviewed people that

I knew nothing about.”

Councilman Eric Bever said he didn’t conduct interviews but looked

at the applicants’ resumes and history of city involvement.

Council members are likely to look at applicants’ professional

experience -- one is a landscape architect, and another is an

assistant city manager in Tustin -- as well as previous service to

the city.

“I think it’s important that people have a good grasp of what’s

going on in the community or the city,” Mayor Allan Mansoor said. “I

think it’s important that people have a good ability to work with

other commission members. The more knowledge the better. I’m looking

for someone who’s well rounded, and certainly experience is

important.”

Whether the council members can agree on commission appointments

will be another story. On Monday, council members will draw straws

for the order in which they get to nominate commissioners. Once a

nomination is made, if it is seconded, the council will vote, but if

there is no second, the next council member in the rotation will

nominate someone.

The process will continue until 10 commissioners are chosen. The

new commissioners will serve terms of either two or four years so

that the whole board will not be up for reappointment at the same

time.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].