Long Beach City Council now majority female for first time in city's history 

For the first time in Long Beach history, the city council has a female majority and is also under the helm of its first Black and first female city manager.

The city council voted last week to name Karen McInnis as council president and Liz Treston as council vice president. They will serve as the face of the council. The shift comes as the city marks its centennial.

"It’s an important milestone and feels par for the course that women should be represented in government to this degree," McInnis said.

McInnis has previously served as council vice president and is also the chief financial officer of the Association of American Publishers.

McInnis and Treston are both starting the third year of a four-year term on the council. Former Long Beach school board president Tina Posterli also joined the board this year for a two-year term, along with former president John Bendo and newly elected attorney Roy Lester, who were elected to four-year terms on the all-Democratic council. They join city manager Donna Gayden, who has served for nearly two years.

Posterli said she was drawn to the city council after working on Bendo’s campaign and shifting the city away from party politics and Democratic infighting. "As the mother of a 20-year-old daughter, it shows her and other young people the sky is the limit," Posterli said.

Treston, a longtime community activist after Superstorm Sandy, said the diversity of the council brings different strengths and causes. "Look at the four of us, you have me — a person with a disability, you have a woman of color — these are all firsts in a city that is changing with the times," Treston said.

The new council has a heavy lift on the agenda. The city has been facing a fiscal crisis for more than a decade, masked by an influx in federal funding after Superstorm Sandy and a payout scandal.

The council voted before Posterli and Lester were sworn in to an initial agreement for a $75 million settlement on a $159 million judgment for a disputed 1980s oceanfront condo development. The new council must finalize the settlement, which is expected to raise property taxes, and pass a budget in May.

"This is a very sobering moment for Long Beach where we have tremendous challenges ahead of us," McInnis said, "but I know we’re with the right team to get those changes done."

Gayden was recruited before the pandemic after two years of turnover in the city manager’s office. She said her role was expected to be temporary, but her contract was extended through the end of next year.

"My job is to be the first that was not political and willing to make the changes to move this government ahead," Gayden said. "Being the first female and African American is secondary to my qualifications for the job."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.