By:KEITH GRANT
City amends charter amid cheers for Gene
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to create the position of Long Beach director of operations, receiving loud approval from a standing-room-only crowd composed largely of city workers who turned out to support the bearer of that title.
Wearing white T-shirts that said "We Support Gene Cammarato," the 400-plus supporters cheered every mention of Cammarato's name and loudly booed anyone who spoke against the proposed law. The outbursts came despite repeated calls by City Council President Joel Crystal for order and to keep the focus of the evening on the creation of the position, not any one individual.
Cammarato has served as director of operations for over two years, but a recent state Supreme Court judge ruled that the post was that of a city officer and illegal because it did not exist within the city charter. Although the city is appealing that ruling, it moved ahead Tuesday night with several charter amendments that included adding the director position to the list of city officers.
The director, the charter now reads, "shall work with the City manager and shall be in charge of overseeing all City departments and personnel. He or she shall supervise and review activities and performance of all departments; supervise all department heads; review department activity reports; and sign payment vouchers and purchase orders. The City Manager may assign to the Director of Operations such other and further duties as he or she deems appropriate. In the absence of the City Manager, the Director of Operations shall serve as Acting City Manager."
The vocal throng did not scare opponents of the measure away from the podium. Several residents said the post was duplicative of the city manager's duties, creating seemingly overlapping jobs at a combined cost in salaries of over $200,000. They also called for a public referendum on the amendment rather than merely a council vote.
Resident Susan Cruz told the crowd and the council, "This is not about Gene Cammarato. This is about taking the city manager's job and making it into two." Mary Lou Monohan backed that sentiment, asking the council, "What's left for the city manager to do?"
Noting that the council, itself, has discussed the need for a full charter revision, activist Sarah Nicholas called on it to create a bipartisan charter commission to look into such a revision before it moves to amend merely a small portion.
A substantial part of the controversy surrounding the position, though, is that it has been held for two years by Cammarato, leader of the Long Beach Democratic Party. While opposition to the post has been based largely on it being held by Cammarato, so too was the turnout of support on Tuesday night.
Resident Linda King pounced on that while addressing the council. Referring to the long, loud ovation Cammarato received as he entered the room prior to the meeting and Crystal's numerous attempts to maintain decorum, King told council members, "What we witnessed as Gene Cammarato walked in is what we will get. Mr. Crystal, this crowd did not respect you. You might as well have been a flea on an elephant for all of the attention you got. I hate to see elected officials treated this way."
King continued that should the council vote for the amendment, "you will subject the community to rule not by law, but by loud. These shirts don't say we support law, or we support changing the charter, or we support the director of operations. They say we support Gene Cammarato." As applause erupted at the mention of Cammarato's name, King concluded, "I'm disgusted, just thoroughly disgusted."
Crystal attempted to explain to the audience that the evening was not "a popularity contest" and repeated calls to keep the focus on the amendment, not Cammarato, as both supporters and critics took the microphone to speak about the current director
"This is not about an individual," Crystal said. "This is about running a city the way it should be run."
Officials did not have an answer to whether there would be an application process for the job once the position was officially created. The position is an appointed one, and it is expected that Cammarato will be appointed to continue with the duties he has been handling over the past two years. Although two subordinates have been transferred to other departments since the recent judicial ruling, Cammarato has continued to act in the role of director while the city awaits summary judgment hearings and prepares its appeal.
Clearly moved by the mass show of support, Cammarato said it "was great," and added that "it was also nice to see that there were no new people that oppose the city."
Of the question of his role duplicating that of a city manager, Cammarato said, "It's not the same title. Glen Cove has a mayor, but it also has a deputy mayor. [The director of operations] is an assistant to the city manager. If the city manager went on vacation or suddenly retired, who runs the city?"
After an hour of comments from the public, City Manager Bruce Nyman explained that the motivation behind the amendment was to bring "modern management" to the city. Noting that the charter had not undergone serious changes in a half-century, Nyman said "we wanted to run the city more like a business than a 1950s government"
Long Beach, he said, requires such a position because of the multitude of services it provides and the tasks officials are strapped with.
"This is a unique city," he said. "I can't think of another municipality this size that delivers the services we do with no outside help. We run all of the services."
Listing such departments as sanitation, police, fire, recreation and sewers, Nyman said, "There's enough work for five city managers. There's plenty of work to do in this city."
Councilman Denis Kelly agreed.
"The city manager alone does not have the wherewithal to deal with all of the city's departments," Kelly said.
Crystal, a longtime teacher at Long Beach High School, equated the city's new structure with that of a school district.
"This is something that's very necessary to this city," Crystal said. "This is definitely a step forward. I think it's better management. I believe it's something the people of Long Beach will be pleased with."
