The city planning commission has appointed a new president to replace Bruce Ehlers, who was ordered to resign last month by the Incinitas City Council.
The commissions agreed on Thursday, May 5, to elect Kevin Doyle as chairman.
“Thank you all for your trust,” Doyle, who has been vice-chairman and has two years left to run his term, told his fellow commissioners after the vote.
There was no comment from the audience on the matter and, frankly, almost no one in the audience – a stark contrast to last month’s City Council meeting when Ehlers was removed. At the meeting, 12 other people spoke out against Ehlers’ removal and the meeting was so tense that the mayor called for a 10-minute break.
In the end, the councilors voted unanimously for MrEhlers to be removed, saying he was doing so because he did not feel he could be discriminating against housing. He referred to the legal papers in which Ehlers, who is the key secretary for the city’s growth-governance process of 2013, filed a lawsuit in support of the city court last year and his recent statements on housing issues.
Critics of the council’s move called it a political revenge, noting that Ehlers is running for office in the city council. They argued that existing councilors are trying to silence Ehlers, as well as someone who criticizes their seats, especially their support for the upper house plans.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. At a meeting in April, Doyle told City Council members that Ehlers was one of his senior coaches and said the council was making a mistake in removing him.
At a meeting on Thursday, May 5, there was no discussion of the status of the Ehlers, and the only dispute was when it came time for the commission to vote on who should be the vice-chairman. Both Steve Dalton and Susan Sherod expressed interest in the project.
Doyle told Sherod that he had a problem with taking the position because he has a hearing impairment. Sherod told her that she was using a computer system on her computer during the meetings and did not think that she would have a problem doing the job.
Commissioner Chris Ryan nominated Dalton, and Doyle said he was moving to the second stage. Voting was 3-1, with Sherod opposing.
