Newcomers picked for city commissions

COSTA MESA — City Council members appointed slates of new members to the planning and parks and recreation commissions late Tuesday, passing over two sitting members who had applied for reappointment.

Three positions on each five-member commission were open instead of the expected two seats because Councilwoman Wendy Leece resigned from the parks commission after winning a council seat in November, and planning commissioner Bruce Garlich resigned earlier this month for health reasons.

Council members named Sam Clark, a business owner who has served on city committees, and James Righeimer, an office and retail developer who also has chaired reelection campaigns for Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, to the planning commission. They also reappointed commissioner James Fisler.

Local homeowners’ association President Mike Brumbaugh, Costa Mesa Historical Society member Terry Shaw and real estate agent Kurt Galitzki were named to parks commission seats.

Planning commissioner Bill Perkins and parks commissioner David Stiller did not get reappointed and will leave their seats in February. Both men supported candidates who opposed Leece and Mayor Allan Mansoor in the November council elections, and Perkins was sure that’s why he lost his seat.

“I was told that had I not done that, I probably would still be on the commission,” said Perkins, who was on the commission for six years. This came from someone close to some council members, he said, but he declined to name the person.

Stiller, who has served a total of 12 years on the parks commission since 1992, said he realized when he signed on with the political action committee Return to Reason, which backed two candidates opposing Mansoor and Leece, “I thought my chances of being reappointed were probably pretty poor.”

Mansoor and Leece both said skipping over Perkins and Stiller wasn’t political payback.

“I think it was more the qualifications,” Leece said. “They were all qualified,” but as far as the planning commissioners, she said, “I know all those people and their qualifications, and I felt they would serve us well.”

New commissioners said they’re excited about their posts. With all the development going on in Costa Mesa right now, Righeimer said, “a person on the planning commission can make a big difference in how the city’s going to look 15 or 20 years from now.”

Brumbaugh said he looks forward to helping find more athletic fields and see if any improvements can be made to city recreation programs.