For the second time in a year, Mayor Donald Williams’ nominees for openings on the city’s Planning Commission were rejected by his colleagues on the City Council.
The mayor’s most recent proposals on July 9 came nearly seven months after he attempted to replace 11 of 12 incumbents on various city committees with newcomers – a plan that drew sharp criticism from some of his fellow council members as well as members of the public.
Last week, Williams nominated Lucretia Marcus and Gerald Turgeon to fill the two Planning Commission vacancies (Kelly Oliver and Doug Allen both resigned due to work commitments, according to Chair Tim Wilkes) but the council, with Vice Mayor Irais Lopez-Ortega absent, voted against the mayor’s nominations.
Lana Richardson, the only applicant for a vacant seat on the Housing Advisory Committee, was, however, reappointed for the remainder of a term that will expire at the end of 2024, following the resignation of Laurel Rios from the committee.
For his Planning Commission nominations, Williams chose from a pool of five applicants that also included Charles (Buster) Davis, former Planning Commissioner Rick Kaiser, and former Housing Advisory Committee member Steven Pinsky.
Councilmember Scott Cooper said at the meeting that while Marcus and Turgeon are both “very talented and dedicated to the success of the city,” he would prefer at least one of the applicants with more relevant experience be appointed to the committee.
“It's important to have congruency, especially at the moment when we do need to focus on implementing the housing element,” Cooper, who previously served on the Planning Commission, said. “And because Steve Pinsky has personally worked on that for the past 18 months and is well versed in it, I think it's important to consider him carefully as an alternative.”
He added that Rick Kaiser would be a good choice for the role as well.
Williams, who has been a proponent of term limits for the council and its advisory boards, agreed at the meeting that experience was important but emphasized it was equally important to allow new applicants, like Marcus and Turgeon, the opportunity to serve.
“I wanted to focus on broadening participation, trying to get as many different folks involved as possible if they're interested and willing to serve,” Williams said. “That broadening participation is really the essence of democracy.”
Wilkes, an architect and current chair of the Planning Commission, spoke at the meeting and said he took issue with appointing people with no prior technical knowledge to the committee.
“We deal with issues from the ADA to affordable housing. Building code sometimes comes up,” said Wilkes, who has served on the commission for more than a decade. “This isn't something that you just open a book to find out about. I've been practicing architecture now for 50 years, and I feel barely qualified.”
He noted that several key projects are still to come before the commission this year, including implementation of the second phase of the city’s housing element.
“If I had a say in this, which I don't, I would certainly recommend to the council either Rick Kaiser, who has been on the commission, or Steven Pinsky, who has been on the housing committee,” Wilkes said. “Both of them are prepared, both of them know the issues and both of them have a lot of history.”
Marcus has previously applied for committee appointments dating back to when Chris Canning was mayor but had never been nominated until last December, and the move drew notable criticism from council then, with members citing Marcus’ publicly-voiced stance against more workforce housing in town.
Marcus did not speak at the meeting but told the Tribune she didn’t take the council’s rejection of Williams’ appointments personally but believed she could bring a new perspective to the commission.
“Tim Wilkes wants people he knows and that he's comfortable with and I think that is the main issue,” Marcus said. “I think the downside of that is they're not getting any new ideas.”
She added, “I think Gerry is an extremely intelligent man. I know a thing or two about building codes. And I think it can be learned. Maybe I'm wrong. But I’m getting a little tired of getting denied.”
Councilmember Kevin Eisenberg said at the July 9 meeting that he had interviewed all five candidates for the position and was “impressed” by all of them, but agreed with Wilkes that some prior knowledge and experience brought by either Kaiser or Pinsky would be important moving forward and suggested a compromise.
“I probably would be open to thinking about, for the first position, getting somebody with experience,” said Eisenberg. “And then perhaps for the second position, someone with less experience who would be learning. But I would not do a complete reorg. to bring in two brand new people.”
At the July 9 meeting, rather than make a new round of nominations – something he did do last December – Williams opted to hold off until the next meeting on Tuesday, July 30, leaving the two Planning Commission seats vacant for now.
Of the 13 Planning Commission meetings that had been scheduled to take place so far this year, eight have been canceled.
Calistoga spokesperson and Fire Chief Jed Matcham explained in an email that “Most of the planning commission hearings have been canceled due to the lack of applications, which required review and approval/recommendation(s) by the commission.”
