correction appended
Promote La Jolla’s (PLJ) board of directors who run the Village’s Business Improvement District held a special meeting Wednesday, July 23 at La Valencia to form an election nominating committee.
PLJ President Deborah Marengo appointed herself and board members Bill Berkeley, Terry Underwood and Reza Ghasemi to a special subcommittee that will collect a list of La Jolla Village business owners to run for seats in the upcoming PLJ election.
According to PLJ Executive Director Tiffany Sherer, PLJ has seven vacant seats to fill. Four of seven board members chose not to run.
Debbie Tremble, owner of Nestlife on Girard Avenue, said she decided not to run this year. After more than three years on PLJ’s board of directors, Tremble said she wanted to focus on her expanding tabletop and bridal business.
“I intend to stay active ” I just don’t want to stay on the board,” Tremble said.
Every other year, half the board is re-elected, Tremble said. But this year, in addition to Tremble, Lennie Alickman and Michael Ullman will refrain from running, leaving three seats open for fresh members.
PLJ’s four incumbents ” George Hauer, Pat Walsh, Susie Greenwald and Jerry Burwell ” will run on PLJ’s election ticket, but during Wednesday’s meeting, the members discussed local business owners the nominating committee would likely ask to join the group.
While considering possible board replacements, Sherer discussed grant money that the nonprofit group receives. She said PLJ gets strikes for not having enough minorities. The number of Caucasian people is high, Sherer said.
“The city likes to see diversity,” she said.
But Underwood asked about a different type of diversity.
“Do we need galleries?” Underwood said.
The group said the subcommittee should focus on diverse PLJ board member replacements; mainly, members should ask people in various geographic locations or dissimilar businesses to achieve a peppering of diversity.
Bob Collins, owner of Inn By The Sea, said K-Nathan Gallery owner Keith Kelman has expressed interest in running.
Other names mentioned included Tom Cerruti of Cerruti Antique Co., Donna Marsh and Dianne York-Goldman.
Although the nominating committee will ask some business owners to run, any village business owner in good standing with the business improvement district is eligible.
Anyone interested in running for next year’s PLJ board should send a letter of interest to [email protected] by 5 p.m. Aug. 10.
Sherer said PLJ will verify that members are in good standing, then their names will go to the nominating committee.
For more information, go to www.lajollabythesea.com.