Recommendation to receive Charter Commission appointments and reappointments approved by the Personnel and Civil Service Committee pursuant to Section 509 of the City Charter and Section 2.03.065 of the Long Beach Municipal Code.
Great. And I want to hang out. We're going to do a photo once we get through all these. So congratulations to that first group. Let's give them a round of applause. Next we have a are other appointments and we are going to be appointing these other appoint appointments to some of our charter commissions. And Madam Court, if we can have the read the item. Communication from Councilman Austin Personnel and Civil Service Committee recommendation received Charter Commission Appointments and reappointment approved by the Personnel and Civil Service Committee. Great. And this will also include reappointment that we have. I'm going to read about the appointees and I'm going to turn this over to Councilman Austin, who will give a report from the committee who also had a chance to go over all the folks today. So I'm going to go ahead again and thank all of you that are up for appointment. We first have a lot of folks that are going to join our Citizens Police Complaint Commission and we are happy to appoint some new commissioners tonight. First, we have Diane McNish, Diane McKinney inches a council district, one resident and longtime community leader with a variety of organizations. She's been nominated as Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly and was awarded Woman of Distinction by Fullerton College. Diane was also, as we're aware, a member of the Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees and a former member of the Community Development Commission and is excited again to serve the city as a commissioner, very involved in the community. Diane, we're very happy and excited to have you. We also have Veronica Garcia, a Veronica Garcia is a fifth District resident who serves as the executive director of the American Red Cross, are from the San Gabriel Valley chapter and has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit administration. She's also the former president and of leadership Long Beach, past board member of the Long Beach nonprofit Partnership and the Rotary Club and was a founding member of the National Latina Alliance and United Latino Fund. As we know, Veronica is has been incredibly involved in the community. She is a resident of the fifth District. And we're very we want to welcome you to our commissions. Thank you, Veronica. We're excited to have you. Four council districts are in Council District seven. From that district, we have Maria Norvell. Maria is here. Thank you, Maria, for being here. Maria has long been engaged with public safety in our community. She served for ten years on the Public Safety Commission and participated in the Police Chiefs Advisory Group for Neighborhood Watch leaders from 1989 to 2010. Maria is very interested in neighborhood policing, community policing and very excited to join this commission as well and serving in this new role to add to the many roles that she served on in the city, particularly when it comes to issues around community policing. So Maria, thank you for joining the commission. We're excited to have you. And also from the ninth District, we have Dr.. Thank you. Yes, from the ninth district, we have Dr. Joanie. Dr. Joanie Ricks out O.D.. Sorry, I forgot the last name there incorrectly. I'm sorry. Okay. I just know you with Joanie, so. But Joanie is a District nine resident. She has a doctor doctorate of epidemiology from UCLA and is a current is currently the director of the Center for Statistical Consulting at the University of California, Irvine, and is actively engaged in the language community as vice president of the DeForest Park Neighborhood Association, executive board member of the L.A. Long Beach Area Sierra Club and Community Lead for the North Long Beach Veterans Day Committee. And Joanie is just really involved in North Miami Beach issues as a community leader. And we're excited to have you. So welcome. And absolutely. And also on the commission, we have Dana Buchanan. Dana is a council district 33 resident and a business owner who has been recognized for active involvement in the Long Beach community. Dana has been a board member for the California Conference of Equality and Justice CCJ, where she works on issues around restorative justice and is involved in a number of local organizations, including Long Beach, Rotary Leadership, Long Beach, Friends of Pathways, among many others. And of course, it's really active but very involved in her business as well and provides incredibly delicious food with your with your other partner over there in your wonderful business. And so, Dana, we welcome you and to the commission as well. Next, we have three appointments to the Civil Service Commission. First, we have Heather Morrison. I know Heather is here. Heather is a resident of District eight. I mean, she actually is a former staff member of Councilmember Al Austin, which you may know her from. But she also is incredibly has an incredible rich history herself. Prior to joining the city, she is currently completing her teaching credential in special education at Long Beach State University and is a volunteer at both Jordan and Cambria High Schools. Heather recently completed six years on the Bond Oversight Committee for the Measure K and Measure E bonds for Long Beach Unified School District. So we're very appreciative of that community work that Heather has been involved with and is also really involved in community and our local schools. A very fair person. And thank you, Heather, for joining us on the Civil Service Commission where we know she's not able to attend. But we're also going to be appointing Suzanna Gonzales, Edmund, who is a District five resident. Two to the Civil Service Commission. She has over 15 years of experience in the public and private sectors, including her time here at Long Beach City Government. She's currently a government relations consultant with ex Duncan Klink and by and Suzanna has served on several boards and has a master's in public policy from Long Beach State University. So congratulations to Suzanna and Lasse. On this commission, we have Megan Kerr. Megan is known to us, of course, as in her other role as president of the Long Beach Unified School District. She's a District eight resident who's actively involved in Long Beach and the community. She also has served on the Commission on Youth and Children in the past, and as they've transition and kind of reformed as an organization. She's interested in helping our community grow and thrive as a graduate of Long Beach City as well as Cal Poly Pomona, and is very interested, of course, in issues to ensure there there is equity also in the hiring process. And so, Megan, we want to thank you for for joining this commission and R and R and her final appointment of the evening is to Mariella Salgado, who is going to be appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission. And Mariella Mariella is a first district resident, and she actually owns a district, a business in the fifth District and holds a master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine, is an advocate for Long Beach youth and our entire community through her volunteering with the Willmar City Heritage Association, the Alpert Jewish Community Center, and so many other organizations that she is involved with. Mariella is very interested in ensuring that there's access and for all youth across the city to our parks. And so with that and before I turn this over to Councilman Austin, let's give them all a round of applause for their great work. We also have a series of reappointment to the board which are all on this agenda of any of of re appointments are here. Congratulations to all of them. And let me just say before I turn this over, that if if we read a lot of names of incredibly qualified women, it's because almost all the appointees that were in this group are incredibly qualified, amazing women. And it's been it's been important for me, as I've joined in this seat, to ensure that there is gender parity and that we are representative of the full amazing talents of all our amazing women across the city. And for for far too long, we have not appointed enough women to the seats and. Once this group goes in and one more group that will be in a couple of months, there will be for the first time in the history of the city, there will be more women serving on commissions than men. And I think that'll be that'll be a good change. I think for a Long Beach for the first time. And so the quality of these appointments to all the women that are here, you're all amazing. And of course, to the one gentleman that's being appointed to, he's also amazing. But I wanted to thank all of them for their service. And with that, I want to turn to Councilman Austin, who has some remarks. Thank you. And as chair of the personnel, the Civil Service Committee, we met last week and went through and vetted and voted unanimously to approve the mayor's recommendations for committee, charter committee appointments, commission appointments. I want to thank the mayor for his very thoughtful appointed appointments. And I want to thank the the the appointees for their willingness to serve our city. The work that you have before you is very important. And we as a council value the work that and the recommendations and the work that you'll do on your individual commissions in those capacities. I've had the opportunity to work with many of the the nominees and appointees here and know them on a personal level. And I have full confidence that they'll do a great job. And so with that, I would like to just because the mayor spent so much time explaining and going over the bios. I'd like to just move the full approval of the personnel, the Civil Service Committee's recommendations. Thank you, Councilmember. And thank you for leading that committee to to get through all of these as well. There's a lot of vetting that has to go on through this process. And so we appreciate that. It comes from Birmingham. Thank you, Mayor. I'm also a member of the Civil Service and Human Resources Commission, and we did review all candidates. And I want to thank thank them for stepping up and volunteering because it's going to be is is not always a pleasant thing. And it takes some of your time away from family and friends. But I'm sure that the rewards that you'll get from working with the city to making the city a lot better is going to be invaluable. So I want to congratulate you for stepping up. And I also I thank the mayor as well for making these appointments, bringing them forward for us to consider and for you and for us to for your names as members of the new commission. So congratulations to all of you. Looking forward to working with you when we're in one capacity or another. Thank you. Councilmember Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think this is probably one of the most qualified cohorts of appointees that I've ever seen come in front of our council. So let me just say congratulations to all of you. This is a very impressive group. And I have to say, yes, I see a lot of women, but I really see the years of commitment and volunteerism that I see here from all the people I see around me. Susan Right in front of me, I see new leaders like like Joni and and I see Ebony and Dana. So many people here. This is a really impressive group, and I think that should be noted. So on behalf of myself, the Ninth Council District, congratulations to all of you. And we look forward to seeing many great things come from this cohort. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Councilman Price. Thank you. I want to make comments to both groups that were voted on or that will be voted on this evening, even though I know we already did the other item, I knew that we would have some residents from the third district, at least in the second group. So I reserved my comments, but I feel like it's a little bit of a ladies night in here because there are so many women here. And I want to echo what the vice mayor said. It's not so much that there are women here. It's that the room is filled with competent, independent, efficient leaders. And that's really what we need. They happen to be women as competent, efficient leaders often are. But I think that having you here and having you willing to serve and continue your commitment to the city in a different scope is really something that is a source of optimism for all of us who are here. So for the third district residents who are going to be serving on charter and non charter commissions, congratulations. Welcome to the policy process, the policymaking process. And please know that we rely on you to serve as the experts for the commissions that you serve on. So when issues of policy come to our attention originating from your commission or a subject matter that's normally discussed in your commission, we will look for your guidance on how we should proceed and the pros and cons of a particular issue, because you will have studied it a lot more and with a lot more depth than we will at the time that it first comes to us. So please know that we rely on you as as a source of information and guidance as we move through our policy decisions. I know that's always how I've worked with the third district commissioners, and I hope to do so with all of you. So congratulations and welcome. Thank you, Councilwoman and Councilwoman Gonzalez. Yes. Also the same thing, a very incredible group of women. I'm extremely impressed. So many of you have said yes to be being commissioners, but on top of your either a 9 to 5 job, on top of your volunteer work, I see so many of you at so many community meetings that I think to myself, why are you at this community meeting? I know I have to be here, but you're here because you really want to be here and make improvements for our city. So I really appreciate all of your hard work. So many of you do such a great job at that. And on top of that, some of you are mothers. So I appreciate your perspective in that lens as well, because we know that we have a lot of work to do for our families here in Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Mongo. I'm so excited that the message is out there. We've been talking about more residents. Of the fifth District volunteering. For commissions. This is the most applicants we've had in this category in a long time. And so I think that for you guys to rise to the top is a real accomplishment. And I look forward to many more opportunities for you to have more fifth District neighbors joining you on some of these commissions. So great work and thank you. And it was a really big candidate pool this time because we've really been pushing commissioners. So thank you. Councilman Andrews. Yes. I want to thank also every one of you who stuck in there and decide to accept these appointees, because the fact that when you speak about the young women, that what is so exciting to me is that I hear and listen to your your due diligence for sticking to it. And it's you because most of you individuals have your masters, your doctors. I mean, that's kind of saying something and you want to get on a commission. I mean, that takes time also. So I just want to commend every one of you to keep up the good work. I hope the young kids are looking at this because you guys, this is work. And I hope you know what you're getting into. Congratulations to most of you. Thank you. And the last thing I'll say, because I think it was mentioned is the amazing part about this last group of of amazing appointees is once we put out that that we really want more amazing women to apply, we've never received so many applications from just qualified, experienced, amazing people. The amount of applications that received we received from women was more than we've ever received because of the strong interest. And sometimes you just seen a need to put it out there and make the ask. And we were just so impressed. And so just thank you. Thank you for serving and we look forward to your leadership. There's a I see no public comment on this issue. We also have the reappointment as part of this. And so, members, please go ahead and cast your vote on this. Motion carries. Great. Well, congratulations. And we're going to do like we traditionally do is going to do a photo. And so I'm going to we're going to ask all the kind of all the commissioners that are whether you got appointed or reappointed to kind of come on the staircase and we're going to councils and come on the staircase, we're going to take it. So we all get in. So just somewhere on the stairs right there. Thank you. That you didn't exercise because. Does he mean, like, right here? Yeah. Just get him on this one. More people on the. Registry and. People I don't know. Great, sir. Thank you to everybody. Good working on it. Good to see you again. Come on in. I'm just going to look at the way you look in here. Everybody, everybody, everybody. Lean out a little. A little bit. Every little guy here. All right? Everybody can see me. Got to get to. She passed away. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Internet. Send me your pictures. I trying to have my mental disorder. You know, my life. His name is David. Congratulations. I didn't work out. I. Well. Know, we've talked about this idea and I help to. Guess. I know that. Okay. We're going to continue the meeting, so I'm going to ask everyone to please exit quietly. And so we can do our conversations outside so we can continue on with the meeting. Okay. We had a request to move up item 20, which is from Councilman Al Austin. Madam Clerk.