Long Beach City Council still at odds over presidency

Members debate rotation of leadership role

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Long Beach City Councilwoman Anissa Moore was widely expected to be named council president at Tuesday’s meeting, after months of prodding by her supporters, but the move was put on hold due to the absence of current President Len Torres — and possibly the outcome of the Nov. 8 election.

Council Vice President Anthony Eramo, a Democrat who ran for a vacant State Assembly seat in the 20th District, was expected to win on Election Night, but lost to Republican Melissa Miller, a stunning upset that many attributed to strong support for President-elect Donald Trump. Councilwoman Eileen Goggin, meanwhile, was elected a Nassau County District Court judge.

With only one City Council seat now open, the leadership rotation could change, with some saying that Eramo — who is one year into a four-year term — could be named president, and Moore, vice president, depending on how the five-member, Democratic council votes at its Dec. 6 meeting.

Torres, who missed Tuesday’s meeting because he was in Puerto Rico, told the Herald that he had initially supported the move to name a new president on Tuesday, but given the election results, he would now like to see Eramo assume the presidency.

“We thought Anthony was a shoo-in for the Assembly,” Torres said. “Since Anthony lost, it has been the tradition in Long Beach … that the vice president … normally has a crack at the presidency, provided he has the full majority of the council. I feel that that’s the right progression. I still think that Anissa is very qualified, and she’s headed there.”

Moore, a communications professor at Nassau Community College and the first African-American to serve on the council, was elected to a four-year term last year. Over the past year, Goggin and other supporters of Moore had urged the council to resume its practice of rotating the presidency, saying that Moore had received the most votes of the three candidates who ran for City Council last year.

Goggin again argued on Tuesday that the council’s pledge to rotate the presidency every six months, in the interest of transparency, should continue, despite the inconsistency of its implementation since the Democrats took control of City Hall in 2012.

“In fact, this meeting, we were supposed to vote on it — there had been discussion over the last month when it would occur,” Goggin said. “[Torres] communicated by email with the group that it was fine to go ahead with the vote tonight despite his absence, and he would support whoever the majority voted for as president. After the election last week, there was a change in that.”

Goggin said that a majority of the council — Torres, Eramo and Councilman Scott Mandel — had decided not to include the measure on Tuesday’s agenda.

“It should be on the agenda tonight, and I’m hoping that it goes on in two weeks,” Goggin said on Tuesday. “It’s supposed to be a six-month rule — it is now November. It should have been done in June, and I’m very disappointed that it’s not on the agenda tonight. This is something that the community wants, something that the residents do want. This administration has prided itself on change and inclusion, and it should apply to the council as well.”

Moore said that before she took office in January, she met with council members and was told that the presidency would rotate. Officials said there is no rule that the top vote-getter is appointed president. In January 2012, former Councilwoman Fran Adelson, who earned the second-highest vote total in the 2011 election after Torres, was appointed president.

“No one said that we’re not going to go forward with it,” Mandel said. “The only thing that was said is that Len Torres is not here, and he would like to be here.”

According to the city charter, the council may vote to change presidents at any time. Every resolution, local law or ordinance the council passes must be signed by the president, or by a temporary president in his or her absence, or by three council members. Although every member has an equal vote, the president has more responsibility, and members have acknowledged that he or she is the body’s de facto leader.

Mandel held the spot from January 2013 to January 2015, when the council intended to resume the six-month rotation. Eramo was ousted as president just a month after he took the position last year — while he was away on vacation, no less — with members citing “leadership issues,” a move that sparked the ire of residents. Torres has served in the seat ever since.

Eramo argued on Tuesday that since he took office in 2014, the term of the presidency had never been kept to six months, and that he believed the rotation should happen once a year, if at all.

“President Torres asked that the item not be voted on while he’s not here,” Eramo said. “And as someone who was away when the president changed, I respect his desire to be here when we rotate the presidency. It’s up to the council, and it will be on the agenda soon.”

Moore and Goggin maintain that Eramo had agreed to rotate the presidency every six months, a claim he denied.

“Either way, we’re here right now,” Moore said, “and tonight we were scheduled to have this vote … and it didn’t happen.”