Dissenting Planners Lose in Struggles With City Councils : Temple City Mayor Uses Power to ‘Remove Somebody in the Way’

Former Planning Commissioner Richard Abraham thinks some dissension between the commission and the City Council is healthy.

But Mayor Kenneth Gillanders thinks the disagreement should end when the City Council has made a policy decision.

So when Abraham’s latest two-year term ended in June, Gillanders invoked a rarely used provision in the city code allowing the mayor to appoint all members of the commission. He ousted Abraham from the panel, where he had served for 10 years.

The controversy began when Abraham objected to a decision by the council to reverse a commission recommendation against expanding the types of businesses allowed in a downtown retail area.

Abraham was one of three commissioners who complained about the reversal in a letter to the council. The other two commissioners’ terms do not end until next year.

“When push comes to shove, you have to remove somebody who is in the way,” Gillanders said. “That is why we (the council) are elected and they (the commission) are appointed.”

The issue arose when merchants along a five-block stretch of Las Tunas Drive asked that the area no longer be limited to retail businesses. Voicing concerns about vacant storefronts and lack of foot traffic in the area, the merchants sought a zoning change so that service businesses, such as beauty salons and barbershops, and professional offices could locate in the area.

“Of 100 businesses, we got 90 signatures on a petition to have a mixture of businesses,” said Rick Konrad, owner of the Band Box, a women’s clothing store, and head of the Downtown Revitalization Committee.

The five-member commission approved a modified plan that would have allowed both banks and professional offices--provided the offices were located above the ground floor--but would have excluded most service businesses.

The merchants appealed to the council, which unanimously approved the mixture of businesses they sought.

Abraham and Commissioners Tom Breazeal and Jerry Siebert, saying they were acting as private citizens, wrote a letter to the council opposing its approval of the zoning change.

“We objected because (the expanded uses) do not bring in sales tax and create parking problems,” Abraham said. “So we wrote the letter, and the council took affront.”

Saying he and Gillanders have had differences over the years, Abraham complained that the Planning Commission gets no direction from the City Council. But he said he would have liked to serve longer rather than be forced off by Gillanders.

“They (the commission) have been instructed on where we want to go,” Gillanders said, “so it is pointless for them to pursue the issue.”

Abraham was one of three commissioners up for reappointment. The mayor reappointed Mary Coolman, who voted against the commission recommendation, and Louis Muto, who had joined the majority in making the recommendation but not been as vocal as Abraham in criticizing the council for not following it.

Gillanders appointed Don Griffith, a surveyor who has served on the Traffic Commission for two months, to replace Abraham.

Since Abraham was ousted last month, other council members have voiced concerns about the mayor’s power to appoint and remove planning commissioners.

“We didn’t have much choice but to go along,” said Councilman William Dennis. “There was possibly some personality conflict involved there. If I thought Griffith was not qualified, I would not have supported the move. I would have had no difficulty with reappointing Abraham.”

Dennis hopes the law giving the mayor his dismissal power will be changed. “It should be a decision of the entire council, no matter who the mayor might be,” he said. “The mayor is just another councilman.”

Councilman Tom Atkins said he would like to review all city codes involving commissions. He agreed with Dennis that the mayor’s power to appoint all planning commissioners was not generally known.

Breazeal, who has been a planning commissioner for 15 years, said the letter appealing the downtown zoning change might have contributed to Abraham’s ouster but was not the major factor.

“Gillanders would have knocked me off if I was up for reappointment,” he said. “Richard (Abraham) and I were more vocal and candid and won’t play the political games.”

Dennis, a former planning commissioner, said the conflict between the commission and the council was unusual.

“The council had tried to keep that area retail for 15 years and had not seen any substantial improvement, so we concluded we had to make changes,” he said.

“The Planning Commission is obligated to follow the council’s policy,” Dennis said.