Updated 02/27/10 10:45am | Press-Telegram reporter Paul Eakins writes that the Police Officers Association president Steve James has confirmed “he wants to see City Manager Pat West removed. However, he said he isn’t trying to sway City Council members in their decision as West comes up for his annual review Tuesday.”
Click here to read the story.
02/26/10 5:00am | That’s the big question this morning, after a story by Press-Telegram reporter Paul Eakins was published last night that indicates a growing movement within City Hall and the Long Beach Police Officers Association to fire City Manager Pat West or call for his resignation.
The City Council meets in a closed session on Tuesday to review West’s performance, and Eakins says that’s where the threat could become real. Any vote would be confidential, but if it’s successful then the votes would be made public.
It was no secret that Long Beach officers felt jaded when West decided to expand the search for a new LBPD Chief to include candidates outside of the department. By nearly all accounts, the choice to select former Los Angeles Police Department First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell was a steal, as McDonnell is seen by many across the country to be leading authority on policing and a perfect fit for Long Beach. But the decision rubbed some Long Beach officers the wrong way, and Eakins describes some instances in which West may have made enemies on the City Council as well.
From the article by Eakins:
“I do know that there is something going on and I think it is serious,” [Mayor Bob] Foster told the Press-Telegram about the rumor that has been circulating for months. “I have had more than one council member talk to me about it, indicate that there is an effort to remove Pat.”
West was appointed to the City’s second-most prominent position in mid-2007 by Mayor Foster himself. The Mayor defends West fiercely in the Press-Telegram piece.
More to come…
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