Alicia RobinsonIt took the City Council only...

Alicia Robinson

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

the planning and parks and recreation commissions Monday -- no small

feat considering that there were 31 applicants, and only three votes

were unanimous.

Council members reappointed Bruce Garlich and Bill Perkins to the

Planning Commission and also gave Eleanor Egan, James Fisler and Donn

Hall seats.

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.

After nominating former Planning Commission Chairman Bruce

Garlich, Councilwoman Katrina Foley praised his work as a

commissioner.

“I think that he has served our commission well, and he will bring

an institutional memory to the commission that will be very

valuable,” Foley said.

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.

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.

“My view of the Planning Commission’s value to the city and the

council is it offloads the council with a major part of the activity

that they don’t have to take on themselves,” he said before the

meeting Monday.

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

Council members Eric Bever and Katrina 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 meeting Monday, and the

new Parks and Recreation Commission will meet Feb. 23.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

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

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.