Recommendation to confirm the appointment of Linda Tatum to the position of Assistant City Manager effective June 20, 2020.  (Citywide)
Thank you. Next item 20. Report from City Manager Recommendation two confirmed the appointment of Linda Tatum to the position of Assistant City Manager effective June 20th, 2020 citywide. Mr.. Very, very, very happy to be here today and to bring this item to you. So we conducted a selection process to pick our next assistant city manager. This is an incredibly important position. It's in our charter, and the council has a role in confirming the city manager's appointment. And so I am recommending that we appoint Linda Tatum. I could go on and on about Linda. She has been fantastic here in the city and has had over 30 years of very diverse experience doing huge projects in the region. And she's a planning expert and professional as well as a very, very solid administrator. She's going to do great things as our assistant city manager, and I ask for your support. Thank you. That was item 22. I see a motion back by Councilmember Richardson, a second by Councilmember Price. Councilman Richardson. I wanted to chime in and just offer my adulation and strong support to to Ms.. Tatum, who will be our next assistant city manager. She in my work as president of SCAD, we know the city's web strong reputation for planning standpoint. Ms.. Tatum has a has an incredible reputation as an administrator and as a planner, both in her time here in the city of Long Beach, but also in the city of Inglewood. And so I know that she's going to bring great contributions to the city manager, city management team and help bring a level of experience and sophistication to the team. And I look forward to the great things to come. Congratulations, women. And I'm honored to make this motion. Thank you. Councilman Price. Thank you. Congrats, Linda. I look forward to working with you. I think it's an excellent selection next. Thank you. Vice Mayor Andrews. Yes. Congratulations. I mean, I think you're like a diamond in the rough. And I'm looking forward to being, you know, coordinating this drive with you as soon as we can get some of these priorities. And congratulations again, young lady. Thank you. GONZALES Pierce. Thank you. I want to congratulate the whole city, Tom and Linda, for this appointment. Linda, I think that you are balanced, smart, fierce and fantastic partner for Tom in this position. And I also want to congratulate the department for really growing a great bench of people that can step up. And I know Oscar and Chris have been a pleasure to work with. Also very smart, strategic and thoughtful people that I know you've worked really closely with. So it's really great to see some of that leadership step up in this process. So congratulations, everyone. Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations, Linda. I am so excited to have you in this position. You bring not only diversity because you're a woman, but because you're an African-American woman. That I up that you you have stellar knowledge about the city and a passion for the city. I'm so big that I think that you're going to work so beautifully with Tom, and I look forward to working with you on many good things to make Long Beach better every day. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Were you were you keyed up for the last item or for this one? I had tried to make this motion, sir, but it's okay. Go ahead, Councilman. Thank you. I just want to congratulate Ms.. Tatum. She's knowledgeable, professional and poised under fire. I like a lot of our department heads, but there's not a single department head. I love disagreeing with more than Linda because she teaches me so much about the city and the possibilities. I think there's a lot to be said of a person who can adapt and become a part of the Long Beach family so easily. Actually, when her real introduction to the larger community gatherings was during such a pivotal time in our city's history, I also think that it's a testament to her leadership in development services, because one of the things that's always really, really telling is when a number two is ready to step up and take on the responsibilities of the number one and. And you did that really well in that you have so many individuals within your department who are really ready to step up and lead. And so I'm. Congratulations. Great choice. I couldn't have thought of a better choice. I know that there was always whispers of who it could be, who it could be. And and Linda, your name has always been on that list since the very beginning, so we're really excited to have you. And congratulations to Oscar, who you trained so well. We look forward to working with him as well. Thank you. And again, just because it's confusing on the system, how were you queued up for the last item or for this item? I absolutely want to just take this opportunity to congratulate Linda, our congratulate Tom. But I also want to congratulate the entire city team and the strong stabilizing force. Somebody who was a strong department head, who's already a part of the city management team just shifted into a new role. And I think she's going to complement the city manager very well. And I think we're in good hands. So congratulations again, Linda. My full confidence. Thank you. And council member Ringo. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to add my voice of support for the election selection of Linda with a new city manager. We have a new team, and I'm looking at what we have seen so far, and it's very positive. I want to congratulate Tom. I'm making a great selection. I want to congratulate Linda for accepting the position because she didn't have to. Do you want to be the city manager? Could have easily said no, but she said yes. And I'm glad that she did because she's going to bring a lot of talent to this position and she's going to bring a lot of expertize and a lot of good, good decisions with with the management team here. So as we move forward with a new team, looking forward to working with with everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you. And Councilman Super now. Thank you. I'd like to congratulate Linda. I'm really looking forward to bringing your expertize to the position. I don't think there's anyone in the city who knows more about the impacts of population density and and really looking forward to you looking at this through that lens. Also, if I could borrow a little bit of time, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention what a great job Rebecca Garner has done over the last few months as the acting assistant city manager. So thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Super. And I'm going to just make some comments to close this out as well on this item. I want to just first, I just note that I think Linda Tatum is just a phenomenal choice, and I'm just really proud that we have such a great management team in place. Mr. MODICA You're doing a great job in your short tenure. You put together a really strong team. You brought an uplifted women into your team, which is important. I want to note and Mr. Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, I think that that Linda Tatum after this vote will be the highest ranking woman manager. I want to say in the history of the city, if I'm trying to remember woman of color, there have not been a woman of color in the position of manager or assistant city manager. As far back as I can remember, at least in in modern times. Is that right? Yes, in testing memory that at least in the last 20 or 30 years that that is correct. And so I don't think it's I don't think it should be lost on the moment that not only is Linda the most qualified and prepared person to take on this role, and that's why she was selected. I think, Linda, the fact that you're also kind of breaking that glass ceiling into that these top two positions is a testament to you, to your hard work. And really, it will serve as an inspiration to so many other women managers, managers of color that are looking to you as an inspiration and as someone that is really going to lead the city in a great direction. And so we know how important this role is. We certainly saw Tom in this role for many years, and certainly you will be different than Tom in this role. You guys are both, you know, complement each other. But we look forward to having you in this position and your leadership. We know it's going to be really, really felt. I want to personally also just thank Becky Garner for her just great work and commitment to the city of Long Beach. She loves Long Beach so much and just thank her for her service as well. And as well as the other wonderful managers and leaders that have been promoted into your leadership team that you announced recently. Mr. MODICA And with that, I know I'm not I'm sure if you hadn't been, if you had Ms.. Tatum join you tonight or not. Mr. MODICA There where you are, is she there by any chance? Yes, she is. Why don't we just say a few words? So this Tatum did you want to say a few words? Thank you, Mayor. Members of the council for that. For those beautiful words. I'm deeply touched by them. And I cannot tell you how humble am in accepting this position and your trust, your faith and your confidence. And I I've said from day one that the minute I came to work for the city of Long Beach, I knew that it was a special place. And I will I will tell you why I've always felt that Long Beach, unlike other cities I've worked in, they they know who they are. The city as a whole. I have not worked in a city where the residents and the leadership is as proud to be from Long Beach and be a part of Long Beach. It's really a special place and I've loved and enjoyed my work here from day one. It's a wonderful team and I'm just I'm really proud to be a part of it. And I look forward to serving our city manager and meeting the council's goals and objectives and the challenges that we face in the coming weeks, months and years. So thank you so much for your support. Thank you, Ms.. Tatum. Madam Clerk, any public comment? Yes. We have one public comment from Laurie Smith. You have 3 minutes. Hi. Thank you for letting me address the City Council on this issue before you vote to approve for Miss Tatum being the city manager. I live in 90803 and in City District three. And as a property owner in Bluff Park, historic district and recent recipient of the Mills Act, I wanted to make you aware of my concerns with regards to Linda's management of development services. She failed to address community concerns as part of her duties. Supervising the department and allowed projects that did not adhere to Long Beach municipal codes and audiences. So as a result, the property values of homes in the district are now in danger and as is our quality of life. So disappointing that Tatum has selectively ignored audiences that the homeowners must abide by for city projects. And this flagrant indifference toward city audiences have left the city culpable for damages to property owners in our historic landmark district, which specifically addresses my concerns, which I after and I put in the e-commerce for everyone to view. And those concerns were never addressed. Even though the Cultural Heritage Commission agreed with my concerns, they have never been addressed. So I just wanted to note that the city charter doesn't negate that the powers and duties of the city manager is to direct and supervise the administration of all manager directed departments and to see that the laws and ordinances are enforced and executed. So Miss Tatum and Craig, back with the department's Department of Public Works led these projects and they failed to abide by the ordinances, never address community concerns. And these were cultural heritage ordinance, historic district ordinance and the Bluff Park historic landmark district court case. So additionally, the Certified Local Government Program, which she was overseeing, violations of those now jeopardize the federal and state funding of these programs. So if you're approving her for a larger role within the city, it's not going to make honorable to her continued negligence of duties. And I respectfully asked the city council council members require city staff members to fulfill their duties and to abide by the municipal code and the state certification of the Office of Historic Preservation. So thank you for your time and consideration. And I wish that one of her first duties, if you so approve her, is to make sure that the projects that she put forward and allowed to go forward is returned. And so that we will not have to seek legal issues on this and waste more of. Long. Beach time on this issue. Thank you. For your. Consideration. Thank you for calling for your comment. That concludes public comment. Thank you. Let's go and take a roll call, though. District one. I. District two, i. District three. District three. District four. All right. District five. By. District six. By District seven. I. District eight. District nine. By. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you. That concludes the regular agenda. Did I? Madam Court, did we miss any items or. We get them all? We got them all right. Yes, we're complete.