The Signal Hill City Council interviewed and appointed resident Andrew Zacharias to the Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday, April 26, filling the vacant seat of Commissioner Terry Rogers, who passed away on Jan. 30.
Zacharias joins four other sitting members of the commission—Tim Anhorn, Pam Dutch Hughes, Caroline Kiss-Lee and Nancy Lauer—in advising the council on “leisure-time activities, facilities and services needed by the citizens of Signal Hill,” according to the City’s website.
During his interview, Zacharias said he has been a resident of Signal Hill for 14 years and before that lived for 10 years in Long Beach, earning two degrees from Cal State Long Beach. He works as a musician, performer and educator, having taught at the University of Southern California, Cypress College and Orange County High School for the Arts.
Zacharias and his wife have a 7-year-old son and in 2016 co-founded the nonprofit The Jewel Box Children’s Theatre Company in Signal Hill, which offers free theater and music programs to about 2,000 children per year, he said. The work reaffirms Zacharias’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, he added.
That work, volunteering and participating in city events also allowed Zacharias to build relationships in the community, including with the Signal Hill Public Library, he noted. In answering council questions on what he would envision for the future, he said that while there is programming for younger children, he would like to see more for older kids.
“There’s room to reach out to the community and see what kind of things they might want for teens,” Zacharias said. He said now that things are opening up after COVID-19, it would be a good time to engage families about activities and programs they would like to see.
Zacharias also noted he is “passionate” about volunteering—“I think it’s good for the community”—and was inspired to apply as a commissioner because Terry Rogers had served on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
“I did know Terry Rogers,” he said. “I would be honored to carry on her legacy of civic duty. I love the community here and I feel like there’s a lot that I would be able to help with.”
Council vote based on when candidates submitted applications
The council interviewed eight qualified applicants on Tuesday, allowing each to speak for three minutes before answering follow-up questions. After interviewing, council members could nominate up to three candidates before collectively selecting one.
Out of the eight qualified candidates interviewed, the council nominated five—Edwin Cockrell, Angelo Dickens, Katherine Kim, Sherrie Routier and Zacharias. The council then conducted a “straw poll”—an informal vote—to narrow down the selection before formally choosing one commissioner.
However, per the council’s agreed-upon method, members voted on nominated candidates by the order in which they submitted applications, which ranged from March 9 to March 30. City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn explained that once a nominated candidate gets a majority of votes, voting stops.
“Because there is only one vacancy, the first individual who receives three yeses will then be presented [to] the council for a formal roll-call vote,” Shin-Heydorn said.
Cockrell received one council vote, Dickens received two and Zacharias received three. Therefore, voting stopped before council members could vote on Kim or Routier. Council members then unanimously approved Zacharias as the new Parks and Recreation Commissioner.
“I’m always impressed with the applicants we receive,” Councilmember Edward Wilson said about the difficulty of his nominating decisions. “They all come with so much different background experience, but all of them have something they can add to the city.”
Council members said they wanted to nominate diverse candidates that “reflect what the community looks like,” as Councilmember Lori Woods put it, in addition to their qualifications and civic engagement. The council also expressed interest in candidates with children because of their direct experience with parks and library programs.
Mayor Keir Jones said it is “exciting” to see more residents applying to commission positions and getting involved with the city. Wilson stressed that he could “say good things” about all the applicants—“I’m so impressed and I’m so excited about all the people who applied,” he said.
Vice Mayor Tina Hansen acknowledged that candidates who weren’t selected might feel slighted, but said they should not take it personally and should apply to future positions.
“Putting somebody as number one doesn’t mean we would not be as equally as happy with other nominees,” Hansen said. “We each are looking for a way of filling the commission in a way that we think is representative of the city.”
