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Light Drizzle City Council debates rotating presidency
City officials, residents question new practice
After just six months, City Council President Fran Adelson officially stepped down as president at the July 5 council meeting.
The council voted 4-1 to elect council Vice President Len Torres to her position, and Councilman Scott Mandel as vice president.
Last week, city officials said that the move is part of a new practice of rotating the council’s two top officers every six months in order to create more “transparency and openness.”
Adelson spoke about her time as president in a prepared statement, noting that it was a privilege to have served in the position.
“I ran with Len [Torres] and Scott [Mandel] as a team this past election because I believe we share many of the same ideas and goals for Long Beach,” said Adelson, who will remain on the council to serve her four-year term. “We are legislators. We are not into creating an atmosphere of hierarchy and power. It is because that was the way things were done in the past that that is the perception; that being the president has so much more power attached to it. Passing or transferring the title of presidency will not change my efforts and I look forward to moving forward with our agenda.”
But some, including Councilman Mike Fagen, the only member of the majority Democrats to vote against the resolution, questioned the move. Fagen said he thought the switch showed a “lack of transparency” and said that he was never informed about the decision.
“The fact that we didn’t even discuss this is troubling to me,” he said. “The council presidency is not about a concentration of power. It’s about the example of stability and leadership for the town.”
Adelson, however, said that she “respectfully disagreed” with Fagen.
“There is no indication that in six months that council president may just want to stay,” Fagen responded. “This was all done behind the scenes ...”
Councilman John McLaughlin, the council’s lone Republican, cast a ‘yes’ vote despite his belief that the entire council should have been notified about the new policy in advance. He argued that the entire council should have been given a chance to nominate a council president.
