Recommendation to approve an employment agreement with Thomas B. Modica to serve as City Manager.
Motion carries for the concert calendar. Now we're moving on to item 45. Clark, please read the item. I'm 45 as a recommendation to approve an employment agreement. Employment agreement with Thomas Modica to serve as city manager. Thank you. We are. We are. We do have, obviously, Mr. City attorney, I'm going to turn it over to him just to read something into the open session from a vote and some discussions of the council. So some discussion to the council. Sorry, Mr. City, Attorney. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor and members of the council are trying to stabilize. The before. You. This evening is a recommendation to approve the employment agreement with Thomas Modica to serve as your city manager. And he has the city manager salary pursuant to this contract. Will be. $290,650. A 12. Period at an hourly rate of $139.26 per hour. That concludes. My report. I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay, let me begin. I do have a motion to approve this by Governor Richardson. Can I get a second sheet up? Okay. And I got a second by Councilmember Bass. Mayor Andrews. Let me go ahead and I'd like to make some comments. And I would also I'm assuming that the makers of the motion wrote, and if anyone else from the council would like to make comments, please do so as well. To. I just want to just begin by thanking Mr. Motorcar for it is now 20 years, almost 20 years of service to the city of Long Beach. We know that Mr. Modica has done a great job not just in this role, but his work all the way from being a management assistant to working in our Development Services Department to managing our lobbying effort. Communication. Appreciate the city and of course serving as our former city manager, Mr. West's number two as as the assistant to the city. He's obviously been acting in that role now, and I think the Council would agree, Mr. Modica, that your handling of the COVID crisis been impressive and stellar and you've done a great job and really risen to the occasion in this crisis. But separate of that, no one has a better mastery of the budget. You are connected to our city. You live here. Your children go to school here. You're invested here. And we know you're going to do a great job. So congratulations to you on on a on a process. And I know we want to wish you the very best to you, Mr. Modica. Captain Bill Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think your comment summed up the joint statement City Council put forward. I'm honored to make this motion. I'm honored to support Tom in this moment. I have to say, you know, for 20 years that I was there with the city, I've known for about ten. We both had a lot a lot more here back then. But this crisis that we're in is the ultimate test. And I've said it before the ultimate test. I'm pretty sure not many new city manager will walk into a crisis and be able to lead the organization. And what you've been able to do is truly impressive, and we have a lot more ahead of us. So I think this was the best, most prudent, responsible decision for our city, our city's future. I think you have the right set of skills and I'm honored then to have this vote. Welcome to our new city manager. Thank you, Vice Mayor Andrews. First of all, let you down. I don't think that there's going to be another candidate who could be accomplishing. You are. I think you came in the way you did and you were very, very supportive and in everything. And I don't think anyone. You out of your ideology in the sense that you go through. I know you wanted it back and you will be the best party and the crisis that will end. Just follow your heart. And I know we will come out of this the way we should with your leadership. And thank you again so much for getting into this into this job, knowing all the time of our situation. You are going to be coming up again. I you are going to do a great job. I support you 100%. You go get them. Thank you. And next, we have Councilmember Pearce. Thank you. I wanted to chime in, Tom, and say, you know, I don't take this vote very lightly. I've told many people in our community it is perhaps the most important vote that we can take on this council. And since my first day, you have always been engaging. You've always listened and acted in a way with integrity that really tried to make sure that you were balancing all the needs and requests of all the, you know, the diversity that our city has. And I wanted to make sure that I looked at that up because I think it is so important when so many of my constituents I have brought up diversity that you really have led with that in so many ways. And I think your demonstration over the last month with this crisis have really demonstrated not only to myself but to the community members that you will also be serving, that you're the right person for the job. So I'm proud to take this very important vote and getting to work with you not only the next several months, but in the long term. So congratulations. Thank you. Next stop, a few councilmember. Hold on 1/2. Susie. What? I'm sorry, Robert. I cut out for a minute there. You call on three? I did? Yes. Customer base. Oh, perfect. Thank you. Sorry about that. I just. I want to echo the comments of my colleagues. And, Tom, we wish you the best, and I'm really happy to be taking this next step. And thank you for everything you have done. And thanks in advance for everything you're going to do to keep us stable and strong. Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman. And they have. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to congratulate you on being our new city manager. You've been doing a phenomenal job for the last couple of months that I've been working with you, but especially in this in this crisis that we face. And I feel that the rest of the council will agree with me in the fact that we are so glad that we are in your hands right now. And we feel very strong and confident because you are at the head of our faces, always being on top of things and always, you know, even, you know, predicting the future. I think that, you know, it takes a certain kind of person to do that. And I believe it's the love and the passion that you have for our city that that makes you work so very hard. So I want to thank you again and congratulate you for doing a phenomenal job. And I'm looking forward to all the great things we're going to do together. Thank you again. Thank you. And Councilwoman Mongo. Thanks. I just wanted to congratulate Tom and add a bit of perspective. Thompson here so long that he's been through three economic downturns. And and for that, I know that he has the experiences to guide us through what we did right and the things we can do better. And I look forward to many years of service at this important role. Thank you. Thank you. And Captain Ranga. Thank you, America. And you know, I've known you your whole career myself, having been an employee in the city as well, then now in the capacity of a council member is something you develop. I've seen you grow and you crawl into this position with regret with that. And while we maintain open communications or playing a role, we continue that goal. And I appreciate your director for you're opening with me because certainly we'll get over this together, but I'm sure that there'll be some of the challenges of the future where they be. We can also work together the resolution and thank you. Thank you. That includes a comment from the council. I would go ahead and take care of the motion any second. I will go ahead and take a roll call. Vote for District one. A district. Do. I. District three. I. District four. By. District five. By. District six. Art District seven. Hi. District eight. Hi. And District nine. I. Great. Congratulations to our new city manager, Thomas Modica. And I'm going to ask I know you should take a minute here, Tom. I know you. You're on the line. I was at the part of the meeting, so I'm just to let you say a few words, if you would like in your new role now for the rest of the meeting as our city manager. So, Mr. Monica, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Mayor. And I'm just beyond humbled to hear the support of the council. It is such a great group of policy leaders that we have in our city, and I am just so honored to be your city manager and your commitment to public service, your commitment to thoughtful discussion, to compassion for your community is just amazing. And it amazes me every Tuesday and every day that we that we talk on the phone. I do want to say I'm just so fortunate to have an amazing team at our city. Our city employees are second to none from our 6000 that work out there every day for their residents to our executive management team. They are all focused really on the excellent delivery of service to our residents. Our mission really is just to make Long Beach a little bit better each and every day, and that's something that they really excel at. And so I appreciate all the very kind words. It's not me. It's really our team that does all of the things that you talk about, and they do it with pride, and I just couldn't be more proud of them. So thanks again for the opportunity and I look forward to serving in this role and and helping you achieve your goals for this community and to do it every day with integrity and with dedication and with service. So thank you so much and are just so proud to live here in this in this great city. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. America. And we will move on with the agenda for. Thank you. We're now moving on. We have three hearings that we have to do. I'm going to have the clerk kind of help move the hearings along just because they're going to be calling folks in. And so we're going to start we have items 32, 33 and 34. And if we can, please have and start with item 32 that the first hearing will let the court begin and introduce the item.