It’s not only the cast that’s changed at the Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) board. There also seems to be less on their plate, or more specifically, there’s less being reported to the public at their meetings.
There were more than a half dozen items addressed at the two-hour DTSM board meeting on July 24th, which was five days before the City Council fired and replaced six of the members, allegedly to increase the effectiveness of the group. However, at the newly constituted board’s first meeting in August there was only one item on the agenda (other than the swearing in of the new members), and the same thing was true last week for a “special meeting,” which, like the first, lasted less than half an hour.
Despite the ongoing challenges downtown, the sole item of business on the agendas was the executive search to replace Andew Thomas, the current chief executive officer, who is resigning. There was no staff report about other ongoing activities, and all DTSM staff were oddly absent from the most recent meeting with the exception of Thomas.
Chair Michele Aronson informed the board members that five proposals have been received from executive recruitment firms (with a sixth proposal anticipated), all of which were solicited after the Council’s action. Aronson said that all of the firms have experience placing people in the public sector, but she clarified that none of them exclusively work with Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) or Property-based Business Assessment Districts (PBADs). “That would be a pretty niche area,” she said.
Newly appointed board member Elaine Polachek proposed forming a search committee, seemingly unaware that there already was one, but half of its members had been purged. Three new members were added: Sean Besser, Jonathan Gregory and Eric Sedman, in addition to the remaining members, Joshua Gilman, Stanley Iezman, and Aronson.
Sedman addressed the elephant in the room. “I don’t know how many of the members who are currently here, placed on an interim basis. are going to be permanent,” he said, referencing the fact that Council has stated they will be making long-term appointments this month to replace the temporary appointments. “I think those individuals would want to have input on this process.”
Although the Council prioritized the executive search when overhauling the DTSM board, Sedman seemed to be pointing out that they also have somewhat stymied that endeavor. But that didn’t prevent a robust discussion about the qualities that the current board members would like to see in candidates, including successful experience working with BIDs as well as knowledge of Santa Monica.
“It’s important to find someone who gets us and is familiar with the community and the downtown,” said board member Gleam Davis, “and maybe has some sense of the history.”
However, Iezman suggested that the history of downtown Santa Monica could cut both ways for candidates, particularly the recent DTSM drama with the Council. “We’re going to have to sell at the same time as we’re buying,” he said.
But Aronson said the recruiters had assured her it won’t be a problem. She said they told her “The right person is going to be happy to take that challenge on.”