Council to directly choose planners

Deirdre Newman

The chaos that ensued when City Council members tried appointing

planning commissioners two years ago has resulted in a new process

that gives council members more power over their appointees, and has

opponents screaming cronyism.

On Monday, the council voted 4-1 to allow each council member to

appoint one person to each commission who will then serve at the

“pleasure” of that member. Councilman Chris Steel dissented.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who introduced the idea, said the

process simplifies what can be a complicated endeavor from the dais.

But some residents call a method with no oversight or veto authority

a blatant power grab.

“What that means is instead of having 15 people with independent

minds, you wind up with five three-headed beasts -- a councilperson

who can control absolutely what one planning commissioner and one

parks commissioner says, because if they don’t do it, they can turn

them loose,” resident Geoff West said. “They don’t need a reason.”

The council wanted to change the process because of the fiasco two

years ago when there were three new council members. Confusion

resulted as everyone made motions at the same time.

After determining the new process, council members instructed City

Manager Alan Roeder and City Atty. Tom Wood to draft the policy so

they can use it to select new commissioners at the Feb. 18 meeting.

Steel said he thinks the process smacks of favoritism.

“The person put on [the commission] is going to vote the way [the

council member] wants him or her to vote and I don’t think it should

be that way,” Steel said. There are 17 candidates for the Planning

Commission, including all five incumbents, and six applicants for the

Parks and Recreation Commission, including three incumbents.

Planning Commissioner Bill Perkins said the process could have

negative repercussions.

“It’s not a bad idea per se, but the implementation and

implications are pretty scary,” Perkins said. “It causes a lot of

hard feelings and makes it very political.”