Council prepares to grill candidates

Alicia Robinson

Over the next month, City Council members will be sizing up 31

candidates for city commissions, but the hot seat for grilling

applicants will be a private one.

The council will fill 10 spots -- five on the Parks and Recreation

Commission and five on the Planning Commission -- at its Feb. 7

meeting. Council members decided Monday night to interview potential

commissioners one-on-one instead of publicly as a council.

Giving each candidate a half-hour interview would have taken two

eight-hour days, but the council also could have chosen a short list

of interviewees. Three of the five council members thought group

interviews weren’t necessary because they already know many of the

candidates and need only look at resumes to narrow down their

choices.

“The applicants all had the opportunity to wow us with their

resumes and letters of interest,” Councilman Eric Bever said. “I feel

that I have gained more knowledge from that process than I would from

[a short interview].”

The council voted Dec. 13 to choose commissioners by a majority

vote of the full council, after using a system of direct appointments

by council members for nearly two years.

Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley, who urged group

interviews as a council, will likely conduct their interviews

together. Foley wants the council to work toward consensus votes on

commission appointees, but she thinks that goal was thwarted by the

three councilmen who voted against group interviews.

“They’re not telling anybody [which candidates they’re interested

in], and that’s what I think is the heart of the problem,” Foley

said. “It’s about learning from our colleagues why they prefer one

applicant over another and trying to come up with a balanced

commission.”

The council also decided Monday how it will choose among

commission candidates. Each council member will have a chance to make

a nomination, and if someone seconds it, the mayor will call for a

vote. A similar process created friction when it was used four years

ago, but Councilman Gary Monahan said there are important differences

this time around.

In 2001, then-Mayor Libby Cowan nominated an entire slate of

commissioners, leaving her colleagues scrambling to get their

nominees on the table with substitute motions, Monahan said.

A slate isn’t allowed this time. In spite of the 2001 fiasco,

Monahan said he prefers using nominations rather than giving

applicants points or some other system.

“It is as traditional and open, for nominations, as we can get,”

he said. “The whole basic system of government citywise is based on

majority, and the magic number is three.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She

may be reached at (714) 966-4626

or by e-mail at alicia.robinson @latimes.com.