Long Beach mayor gains more power over port commission
A city charter amendment giving the mayor of Long Beach greater power will impact the Port of Long Beach.
Still uncertified results of Tuesday's special election show Proposition A winning by nearly a 3-to-2 margin. The proposition amends the city's charter, giving the mayor line-item vetoes of the city's budget, as well as requiring a two-thirds City Council vote to override his veto. It also provides the mayor with more power over certain city appointments, including the Port of Long Beach's five harbor commissioners.
The newly granted line-item veto on the city's annual budget will allow the mayor to reduce or eliminate any expenditure. Council members can override the mayoral veto with a two-thirds vote.
The Port of Long Beach, administered by the city's Harbor Department, has long maintained a high degree of autonomy within the city government. City Hall, before the new amendment, typically had little input into the daily operations of the port, the second-busiest container port in the nation. Under the previous terms of the charter, the mayor and city council had a yes-no vote on the port's entire annual budget. If the port's budget was rejected, it would be sent back to port staff for reworking and then returned to City Hall for another yes-no vote. The new line-item power will give the mayor tremendous influence of the port's purse strings.
The changes voted in Tuesday also granted Mayor Bob Foster the ability to remove a member of a city commission at any time, upon concurrence of two-thirds of the council.
In the past, harbor commissioners, once appointed, could only be removed for very specific offenses, and then only by a vote of the council.
Another proposition that would have changed the current two six-year term limit of harbor commissioners to three four-year terms was defeated by voters.