ThomasFields2

A Mayor Bob Foster-proposed expulsion of Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Thomas Fields will come to a vote before Long Beach City Council November 19, potentially removing the leader of the five-person commission two years before the end of his term.

Though the mayor has refused to comment on the reasons behind his request directly, he and Fields have butted heads over the years on issues such as the location of new Port of Long Beach headquarters and alleged violations of the Brown Act.

ThomasFields2Fields has also come under scrutiny recently for what Councilmember Gary DeLong and others have said are questionable travel expenses. In September, City Auditor Laura Doud opened an independent review of the trips in question and DeLong–who is chairman of the Budget Oversight Committee–proposed a travel expenses cap of $40,000 per commissioner per year, which was approved with the recent city budget. The results from Doud’s audit, which will look at 12 overseas travel trips taken between October 2011 and June 2013, should be released in January. 

Fields was appointed to the Harbor Commission in 2009 by Foster for a six-year term. Foster’s appeal to the City Council for removal of Fields cites Section 510 of the Long Beach City Charter, which states that “the Mayor may remove any member of a Charter-mandated commission at any time, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of the City Council.”

If Fields is removed from his position, that would leave the Port of Long Beach without permanent appointments for two of its top leadership positions. Earlier this year, Executive Director Chris Lytle left Long Beach to take over the Port of Oakland; Al Moro has been named the Port’s Interim Executive Director.

City Council meetings are held at the Council Chamber every Tuesday at 333 W. Ocean Boulevard, 5 PM. Council agendas are available at Longbeach.legistar.com. Click here to read our policy covering City Council. 

Eds. note: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the City Auditor’s audit on Port-related travel expenses would be released this month. It is now slated to be released in January 2014.

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