Procedural Questions Raised on Zoning Board Reappointments

Before the Long Beach City Council unanimously reappointed three sitting members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, one council member challenged City Manager Charles Theofan on his procedural practices.

Dr. Rocco Morelli, Michael Leonetti and Joseph Hamlet were all reappointed to three-year terms that began on Jan. 1, 2011 and will expire on Dec. 31, 2013. While Morelli will serve his seventh term on the board and Leonetti his fourth, Hamlet is returning for this first full term. 

A dentist by profession, Morelli was also nominated to return as the zoning board’s chairman. “I had the pleasure of being the counsel to the zoning board of appeals in 2004 and I can personally attest to his high level of professionalism,” Theofan said.

Theofan similarly praised Leonetti, a licensed architect, and Hamlet, a financial planner who was appointed to the board in March 2009.

“I have been to zoning board meetings and have witnessed the insightful comments and questions that Mr. Hamlet has brought to the application process,” Theofan said.

But Councilmember Len Torres —who said he holds Morelli and Leonetti in “very high regard,” having worked with them when he was a member of the zoning board in 2003-04 — said he was unfamiliar with Hamlet and that he thought Theofan should have provided the resumes of all three re-appointees before the March 15 meeting.    

“I would like to know a little more about this individual’s qualifications,” Torres told Theofan.

Torres, a teacher and administrator in Long Beach and New York City for decades before he retired in 2003, said that if as a superintendent he presented an individual to the board, he provided their resumes to its members, and that a board member once berated him for not doing so.

“And never again did I present any other candidate, for whatever it was, even a volunteer position, without a résumé,” Torres said.

Theofan said that Torres could have called or emailed him about Hamlet, who he noted was initially appointed two years ago and has served on the board since then.

He added that even reappointments are not done in a vacuum; that he speaks with both the zoning board members and Corporation Counsel Corey Klein, who is counsel to the zoning board, if ever a issues arise about a particular member.

“So, I can assure you that he is of the same caliber and quality as the other two gentlemen,” Theofan said. 

During the public comments on the reappointments, James Hodge, a former employee of the city, told Theofan that when he is presenting individuals to the City Council, whose members are essentially his bosses, he should provide resumes.

“Just because someone is on the zoning board or the Housing Authority for three years, just because you appoint him, that doesn’t qualify him,” Hodge said.

Council President Tom Sofield noted that council members get the agenda on each Friday before the meeting the following Tuesday, giving its members several days to get in touch with the city manager to address any concerns or information about a prospective board member.

“Don’t wait until the meeting is 2 ½ hours old and then say, ‘Gee, I would have liked more information about this individual,” Sofield said. 

Torres acknowledged that he could contact the city manger, but said that he still believes he should make résumés available to council members prior to the meeting.

Theofan said that they always have résumés for appointments. “If you want them for reappointment, we can arrange for that,” he said. “But it’s a qualitative distinction.”