The Long Beach Board of
Harbor Commissioners lost two members this week, as the City Council fired the
board president, and the vice president resigned less than 48 hours later.
In an unprecedented
move, the Long Beach City Council on Nov. 19 voted 6-3 to fire Harbor
Commission President Thomas Fields from the five-member board, following a
recommendation by Mayor Bob Foster.
“Mr. Fields has been
immune to suggestions or advice and is often dismissive,” Foster told the
Council regarding his desire to fire Fields. “I have no confidence that he can
lead the port or appropriately weigh broader city concerns in harbor department
actions.”
Fields, a Long Beach
advertising executive and former city planning commissioner, was appointed to a
six-year term on the Board by Foster in December 2009 and in June 2013, he was
elected to a one-year term as board president by his fellow commissioners.
He had come under
pressure from personnel within the port and City of Long Beach in recent months
for numerous reasons, including a perceived overbilling of the port for travel
expenses. Over the past two years, Fields has traveled extensively out of the
country on port business, including to Hong Kong, Montreal, Europe and
Guatemala, sometimes racking up tens of thousands of dollars in costs.
Before the vote, Fields
defended his tenure on the board, saying that his trips were made with the
intent of bringing more business to Long Beach and that some of the trips he made
were on behalf of other commissioners who were unable to travel due to
other commitments.
“Every decision I’ve
made as a member of this commission has been based on what’s best for the port
and the city,” he said.
Among those who cast votes
against the removal of Fields was Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, who said she’d
been told that Foster wanted Fields fired because he makes up half of a
two-person ad hoc committee tasked with selecting a new executive director for
the port, to replace Chris Lytle, who quit earlier this year to become
executive director of the Port of Oakland.
Schipske said that
she’d heard that the mayor already had a candidate for the executive director
position, and that firing Foster clears the path for a new committee member who
would go along with the mayor’s executive director choice.
The mayor however,
denied this.
“I don’t care what the
rumors are,” he said, “it’s not the way I run my office.”
Two days after Fields
was fired, harbor board vice president Nick Sramek submitted his resignation to
the mayor. Sramek’s first six-year term on the board had expired July 1, but
had remained on the commission the past few months while the mayor was deciding
whether to reappoint or replace him.
According to the mayor,
Sramek cited fatigue as a reason for his resignation and said the firing of
Fields played no part in his decision. In his day job, Sramek is a senior
project leader in system engineering for The Aerospace Corp, where he’s worked
for over 30 years.
Fields’ and Sramek’s
departures mean there are now three commissioners left on the Board for now.
Only two members are required for a quorum.
