The Livermore City Council appointed three candidates to fill positions on the Planning Commission earlier this month.
Jacob Anderson was reappointed for his second term on the commission. Newcomers Tracy Kronzak and Yolanda Fintschenko clenched the other two spots. The three of them join fellow commissioners Steven Dunbar and Daniel Leary to complete the five-member advisory body.
The three appointees were among a total of seven candidates chosen by the City Council to be interviewed on March 2. The other four were Asa Strout, senior business analyst and Unify Livermore director; Mel Chiong, self-employed travel agent and a 2022 City Council candidate as well as Erik Bjorklund and Neal Pann, who both previously served on the Planning Commission.
During the interviews, all of the applicants responded to the same set of questions which included sharing what experience they have that has prepared them to serve on the Planning Commission and what they see as a primary responsibility of the commission and what their process would be to prepare for meetings.
They were also asked what they perceive to be the primary planning issues facing the Livermore community over the next few years, how they would work with staff and other commissioners to inform their decisions – particularly with contentious issues – and what would they do in a situation where some criteria in the city's General Plan, specific plans and design codes cannot all be simultaneously satisfied.
Following the interviews and deliberation, the council announced their picks. Anderson, Kronzak and Fintschenko were sworn in immediately after.
In addition to serving on the Planning Commission since 2019, Anderson is also a teacher with Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District. Kronzak is a nonprofit technology consultant and co-founder of Livermore Pride and Fintschenko is the executive director of i-GATE Innovation Hub and Daybreak Labs.
A complete recording of the interview session is available here.
