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Politics & Government

Altschul Out as Heilman Names New Planning Commissioner

Councilman John Heilman opts not to reappoint longtime Planning Commissioner John Altschul, and instead appoints real estate attorney David Aghaei to the Planning Commission.

Revered elder statesman John Altschul was cut from the Planning Commission as City Councilman John Heilman named more direct appointees to various city commissions at Monday night’s City Council meeting.

Altschul, 75, an estate attorney, was first appointed to the Planning Commission by Heilman 15 years ago. However, Heilman opted not to reappoint him this time, instead naming 33-year-old real estate attorney David Aghaei, who currently serves on the Eastside Project Advisory Committee. 

Although Altschul’s ouster came as a surprise given his tenure and stature in the community, it was not entirely unexpected. Altschul supported Heilman both publicly and financially during the recent  but he also publicly supported John D’Amico in his bid to join the council. Altschul and D’Amico became close friends when D’Amico served on the Planning Commission from 2003-2008.

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D’Amico finished as the top vote getter and officially joined the City Council in March.

Heilman also named Candice Illoulian to the Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission and Anne Marie Williams to the Human Services Commission. Both are new to those commissions.

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He reappointed Gary Reichard to the Business License Commission, Gregory Woodell to Public Facilities and David Eichman to Transportation.

That leaves all the direct appointees to commissions filled with the exception of Heilman’s pick for Public Safety Commission, Mayor John Duran’s pick for Business License Commission and Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Prang’s appointment to Arts & Cultural Affairs. When those appointees will be named is not known yet.

The council also voted on the at-large members of the various commissions Monday. Each commission, except Rent Stabilization, has two at-large members who must be approved by a majority of the council.

Madeleine Rackley was reappointed to the Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, but the council held off voting on the second at-large member.

Erik Barker and Sibyl Zaden were both reappointed to the Business License Commission.

Danny Castro was reappointed to the Historic Preservation Commission, while Gail Ostergren will take the second at-large slot.

Mark Zangrando was reappointed to the Human Services Commission, but the council will wait to vote on the second at-large member.

Finally, Norman Chramoff and Elyse Eisenberg were both reappointed to the Public Facilities Commission.

The council opted to postpone votes for the at-large members of the Planning, Public Safety and Transportation commissions.

The council members also voted to postpone dealing with appointments to the city’s boards.

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