Sean Belk
Staff Writer
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia announced on Wednesday, Dec. 3 that Sharon Weissman, his senior advisor and former chief of staff, will oversee the currently unrepresented 4th District Council office until a new councilmember is elected.
Former 4th District Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell left the Council seat vacant after being elected as the new 70th District Assemblymember, replacing termed-out Bonnie Lowenthal. O’Donnell, a Democrat and a Long Beach high school teacher, won the Assembly seat in the Nov. 4 election with 63 percent of the vote over John Goya, a Republican and a medical-related business executive, who received 37 percent.
Assistant City Clerk Poonam Davis said in a phone interview with the Signal Tribune that O’Donnell resigned effective Nov. 30 and the Council seat will remain vacant until a new councilmember is elected. She said the 4th District will not have a voting representative on agenda items until a new councilmember takes office.
The Council is expected to declare a vacancy at its Dec. 16 meeting, Davis said, adding that the Council has 120 days from that time to conduct a special election to fill the rest of O’Donnell’s term in accordance with the City Charter.
Davis said the special election, which is estimated to cost less than $200,000, would be conducted on April 14. If the Council approves conducting a special election, the nomination period for candidates would begin on Jan. 5 and last through Jan. 16.
The new councilmember would be elected to serve the 4th District, which has approximately 27,000 registered voters, for a nearly one-year term, from May 2015 to July 2016, Davis said.
In a prepared statement, Mayor Garcia stated that Weissman, who lives in the 5th Council District and is the president of the Democratic Women’s Study Club, will serve as acting chief of staff for the 4th Council office.
Weissman has been a chief of staff for two former Long Beach councilmembers, a state senator and two assemblymembers, according to Garcia.Â
“We will ensure that 4th District residents and businesses are well served while the council seat is vacant,” he said in the statement. “As a resident of Long Beach for more than 30 years and a long-time public servant, Sharon will be a great resource to the residents of the district.”
Current staffing for the 4th District also include: Brenda Caloca, office manager/scheduler; Mark Bloeser, field deputy; and Allison Gallagher, administrative assistant. All three staff members worked for O’Donnell. The 4th District Office will continue to “handle constituent casework, attend community meetings” while working with the mayor’s office.
Mark Taylor, Garcia’s chief of staff, confirmed via phone that a 4th District staff member had sent out a link to notify residents of the 4th District Office’s Facebook page through community social-media site Nextdoor.com, however the staff member provided the wrong URL address, sending residents to the Facebook page for 4th District LLC, a modeling and consulting agency that includes pictures of scantily-clad women. The error was pointed out by Long Beach 4th District Blog.
“As soon as the error was discovered, the information was corrected,” Taylor said. “[It was] a very simple cause and human error. You leave off two letters in a URL, and it makes a big difference.”
On Monday, Dec. 1, O’Donnell was sworn in as the representative for the 70th Assembly District, which serves Avalon, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Signal Hill and San Pedro. Since then, he was appointed chair of the California State Assembly’s Education Committee.
“It is an honor to serve the people in Assembly District 70,” O’Donnell said in a prepared statement. “As a longtime classroom teacher and father of two school-age daughters, quality education has always been a priority. I will continue to fight for resources for schools to ensure our students are college and career-ready.
