But Yousefian did not back down, at one point accusing Drayman of belittling the decision to go with Hofmann.
Drayman rebuffed those claims, retorting that over the past year, Yousefian has taken up a huge amount of the council’s time with his “meandering yammering.”
Stuck in the middle was Hofmann, who did not publicly address the City Council during the heated debate.
Since adopting a new system that tethers civic appointees more strongly to the City Council members who nominate them, nominations to city commissions typically breeze through the process.
But upon reviewing Hofmann’s extensive two-page résumé, which includes project management experience for NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Drayman and Weaver argued that the former engineer would fit better on a more technical city commission.
Drayman — who was instrumental in the forthcoming dissolution of the arts commission to make way for a city-subsidized arts council — spent five minutes reading off myriad technical projects and positions held by Hofmann to buttress his assertion that the engineer in no way met established city qualifications that arts commissioners have “substantial professional expertise” as an artisan or steward of the arts.
“What is missing in all of this is any credentials in the arts,” Drayman said.
Yousefian said Hofmann’s technical experience was needed on a “wayward commission” that had done little in the past 10 years to implement the Strategic Plan for the Arts.
Current arts commissioners have said they lack the resources to carry out their mission.
“I do not appoint people I do not feel can do the job,” Yousefian said, adding that he was willing to be held accountable for Hofmann’s performance.
Still, with the City Council appeared headed toward a split 2-2 vote in Councilman Frank Quintero’s absence, Councilman Ara Najarian offered a motion to postpone the final confirmation vote to Oct. 7.
The motion was adopted on a 3-1 vote, with Weaver dissenting.
