Frick to Leave Post as Planning Head

By Jorge Casuso

March 14 -- After 11 years at the helm of Santa Monica's embattled Planning Department, Suzanne Frick has resigned her post to head the planning department in Long Beach, the state's fifth largest city.

City Manager Susan McCarthy is expected to name an interim director to head the department while a replacement is found, said Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson.

"Late yesterday I accepted Suzanne Frick's resignation as head of planning and building and safety," McCarthy wrote in a short email sent to the City Council Saturday. "Suzanne's institutional memory and dedication are a loss for Santa Monica."

Frick's departure after 21 years with the City comes at a critical time for the Planning Department, which is in the midst of updating the land use and circulation elements of the General Plan, documents that will guide the development of Santa Monica for decades to come.

Frick's tenure as the head of the City's most controversial department has been marked by pressure and scrutiny.

She took over planning shortly before the 1994 Northridge earthquake battered Santa Monica, and she departs shortly after seeing her department come under fire from developers frustrated by red tape, as well as from Planning Commissioners who worried her efforts to streamline the permitting process would curb public input.

"She not only got her feet wet in Santa Monica, she ran with the opportunity," said Mayor Pam O'Connor. "My strongest memory is after the earthquake hit. She started off with a lot of stress and pressure and did well.

"In Santa Monica there's a lot of pressure," said O'Connor, who is a historical preservationist. "People care about the built environment. Because of that, they have opinions. She served well in a job that was very demanding."

"I think she will be hard to replace," said Council member and former mayor Richard Bloom. "She served our City with patience, dedication and intelligence in one of Santa Monica's toughest jobs."

Frick's resignation, which will likely take effect at the end of the month, surprised some City Council members, who learned the news from McCarthy's email.

"It came as a surprise," said Council member Ken Genser, who is serving an unprecedented fifth term. "I think she has done a lot of good things here, and I wish her a lot of luck in her new position."

The City will soon embark on a search for Frick's replacement, Anderson said.

"Susan (McCarthy) will identify a process for the recruitment and a timetable, and we'll go from there," Anderson said. "We'll make a determination if it should be more nationwide or local," he said, adding that in either case, the post would likely draw applicants nationwide.

Planning Commissioner Darrell Clarke said that although McCarthy would make the ultimate decision, he expects the council and planning commission will both weigh in on the choice.

"It will be someone picked by the city manager, but there will be input from the City Council and Planning Commission," Clarke said. "I don't think we'll sit by and say nothing."

Clarke said he would look for a candidate with "a sense of vision" and "a very strong commitment to the public process."

"We're at a crossroads now with our land use update," he said. "It takes a particular vision to rise above the ordinary. It's what our city deserves."

Frick "has been around for a long time and certainly knows the process in Santa Monica very well," said Clarke, who is the former chair of the commission. "I'm looking forward to new ideas, new perspectives."

The planning department, which has increasingly come under fire, was the subject of an audit last year.

In a report released last July, the Matrix consulting firm found the department suffered from staffing shortages and high turnover and was riddled with inefficiencies. It also suggested there is a contentious relationship between staff and the various City boards and commissions they work with almost daily.

The tensions between Frick and the Planning Commission came to a head in July 2003, after former chair Kelly Olsen, who later failed in his bid for reappointment to the powerful board, publicly questioned Frick's integrity and charged that the department was corrupt and mismanaged.

In a carefully worded five-minute speech that was unprecedented for its candid comments, Frick rebuffed Olsen's public "attack" on herself and her department and implied that Olsen was responsible for the "morale" of the department.

"I have worked in this profession for 25 years and it has only been in the last two years that my integrity, honesty and professionalism has been really called into question," Frick said, adding that she welcomed a "comprehensive evaluation, so the accusations, innuendoes and false impressions can finally be put to rest."

Frick's ultimate legacy, said Mayor O'Connor, will be the performance of her staff when she is gone.

"She wasn't the only planner working on the process," said O'Connor. "While she was the public face, there were other people working day to day.

"The hallmark of her legacy will be the ability of the planning department to continue with the land use element under the interim guidance, that she left a strong enough planning department that they can carry on," O'Connor said. "That's what a good manager does."