Planning, parks commissions add familiar faces

Alicia Robinson

The city’s new Planning and Parks and Recreation commissions boast a

wealth of experience, including two planning commissioners and three

parks commissioners who were reappointed to their posts.

It took the City Council only 12 rounds of voting to fill 10 seats

on the two commissions Monday -- no small feat considering that there

were 31 applicants, and only three votes were unanimous.

The new Planning Commission is Bruce Garlich and Bill Perkins, who

were reappointed, and Eleanor Egan, James Fisler and Donn Hall. Egan

has previously been on the Planning Commission, Hall is a former

mayor, and Fisler was a parks commissioner and has run for City

Council several times on a conservative platform.

The new Parks and Recreation Commission will include three

previous members, Byron de Arakal, Mark Harris and Wendy Leece, and

new appointees Robert Graham and David Stiller.

Stiller is a former parks commissioner, and Graham has been active

in city issues as a resident, most notably pressing for a bridge

across the Santa Ana River at 19th Street.

Fisler, Perkins, de Arakal and Stiller were randomly chosen to

serve two-year terms, while the rest of the commissioners will serve

for four years.

The makeover to the commission rosters comes after the council in

December opted to pick commissioners by a vote of the full council

rather than direct appointment by council members. The council had

used the direct appointment method for about two years, but some

residents complained it enabled cronyism and made commissioners

beholden to the council member who appointed them.

While council members didn’t have much discussion during the

voting, their disagreement on some commission nominees was obvious

during four votes that split 3 to 2.

Former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mirna Burciaga was

notably passed over -- Councilwoman Katrina Foley suggested her for

reappointment to the parks commission, but no one seconded the

nomination.

The commissions often function as workhorses in the day-to-day

grind of city business. If you want the city to remove a dying tree

from your street, ask the Parks and Recreation Commission. If you

want to build an addition on your home, visit the Planning

Commission.

The Planning Commission also helps the council get through the

minutiae of interpreting city codes and visiting the sites of

proposed building projects, Garlich said.

Serving on a city commission can also lead to bigger things.

Council members Eric Bever and Foley both served as planning

commissioners before their election to the City Council, and

Councilwoman Linda Dixon also has been on the Planning Commission.

Former Councilman Mike Scheafer was a former parks commissioner.

“I think that you’re at a severe disadvantage [running for City

Council] if you haven’t been on either the parks commission or the

Planning Commission,” Foley said. “Most city decisions deal with land

use, so I think that it is important to gain experience on one of the

land-use bodies.”

The new Planning Commission will hold a study session tonight, and

the new Parks and Recreation Commission will meet Feb. 23.