Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia recently announced his choices to fill four vacant commission spots that will be sent to a committee for consideration for a meeting on Sept. 8.
The four vacant positions are two on the Board of Harbor Commissioners and two on the Water Commission.
All four positions are reappointments, and they will be sent to the council’s Personnel and Civil Service Committee for consideration at its next meeting. Thereafter, it will be forwarded to the full city council.
For the Harbor Commission, Garcia plans to reappoint Board Vice President Lou Anne Bynum and Commissioner Doug Drummond. For the Water positions, Commission President Harry Saltzgaver would be reappointed, as would Commissioner Arthur Levine.
Harbor Commission terms are six years, while Water Commission terms are five years. All four of these commissioners were originally appointed by former Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, according to Mayor Garcia’s office.
Drummond has requested to only serve two years of the six-year term. He will leave the board on June 30, 2017.
“These four commissioners have done a great job, and reappointing them will provide both stability and consistency to our harbor and water departments,” Garcia said. “I want to thank them for their outstanding service.”
Saltzgaver was appointed to the Board of Water Commissioners in 2012. He has served as the executive editor of Gazette Newspapers since 1992, and he previously served on the Long Beach Parks and Recreation Commission for 11 years. He is a former member of numerous boards, including WomenShelter of Long Beach, Precious Lamb Preschool, Public Corporation for the Arts and the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Levine was appointed to the Board of Water Commissioners in April 2014. He is the host of Straight Talk, a cable news and talk show in its 19th year on the air, and he served on the faculty of Cal State Long Beach for 40 years before retiring in 2014.
Bynum is executive vice president of College Advancement and Economic Development for Long Beach City College, and she was appointed to the Harbor Commission in May 2014. Bynum is the sixth woman to serve on the board, and her appointment marked its first female majority. She was elected vice president of the Board in July 2015.
Drummond was appointed to the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners in 2011 after a lengthy career in public service. He represented the 3rd District on the Long Beach City Council from 1990 to 1998 and was a Long Beach police officer for more than 29 years. He also served on the board of Long Beach Transit and is a former president of the Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach and the Downtown Lions Club.
“I greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue serving on the Harbor Commission, and I intend to serve only for the next two years,” Drummond said. “At that time, I will retire after a total of nearly 60 years of public service in Long Beach.”
