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04-21-1964 - Regular Meeting - Minutes11 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA APRIL 21, 1964 The meeting of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Barnes at 8:15 P,M, in the West Covina City Hall, Councilman Heath led the Pledge of Allegiance, The invocation was given by Councilman Towner, ROLL CALL Present; Mayor Barnes, Councilmen Towner, Jett, Heath, Snyder Others Present: Mr, George Aiassa, City Manager Mr, Robert Flotten, City Clerk 6 Admin. Assistant Mr, Harry C. Williams, City Attorney Mr, John Q, Adams, Public'Services Director Mr, Harold Joseph, Planning Director Mayor Barnes The procedure now is to canvass the number two envelopes of the ballots, City Clerk, Mr, Flotten: The tally sheets are inside of envelope No,r2. It is not • necessary to check every envelope. You can pick one out of five as long'as you assure yourselves the tally is proper, The Mayor acts as inspector and each of the two teams act as clerks in this case, If you wish you may check the totals on the spread sheet you have before you with the totals shown on the record of votes cast. Mayor Barnes: RESOLUTION NO, 2904 ADOPTED (The Council checked the ballots,) We have checked the ballots and they seem to be in order, The City Clerk presented: "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA RECITING THE FACT OF THE GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN SAID CITY OF WEST COVINA ON THE 14TH DAY OF APRIL, 1964, DECLARING THE RESULT THEREOF AND SUCH OTHER MATTERS AS ARE PROVIDED BY LAW" (Refer to Exhibit A) • Mayor Barnes: Hearing no objections, we will waive further reading of the • body of the resolution, Motion by Councilman Towner, seconded by Councilman Heath, that said resolution be adopted. Motion passed on roll call as follows: Ayes: Councilmen Towner, Jett, Heath, Snyder, Mayor Barnes Noes: None Absent: None Said resolution was given No, 2904, -1- C.C. 4/21/64 Page Two Elected to the office of"Councilmen were Dr. Norman G. Snyder, Harvey S. Krieger, Russ Nichols; Treasurer, Mabel 1. Hoffland, and to City Clerk, Robert Flotten, all for terms of 4 years. (Dr. Norman Go Snyder' Harvey S. Krieger$ Russ Nichols, Mable I. Hoffland and Robert Flotten stepped to front of the chambers to be sworn into office.) Judge Martins May I congratulate you first on the opportunity for service which the recent election has afforded you. If I may presume as a citizen of West Covina just to.speak momentarily in behalf of the citizenry, we do look forward to a great year and great progress from you and the colleagues you have in'the City government. Perhaps more than any other government -m Federal,- State, County you have a more direct and immediate effect upon our property rights and our safety and our: health. Among other things you are entrusted with the management in a very direct sense of over one -hundred million dollars of our property in this City.. In addition because that is the biggest item on our budget you are effecting very directly about thirty-six million dollars that we spend as citizens on those homes and much more than this on our businesses each year. Under that trust and in that spirit may I ask you if you will raise your right hand and follow -me in the oath that I will now read to you of installation. • (Gave oath of office.) • I declare them officially installed. Mayor Barnes: It is now the time for the seating of the new Council. I would like to call the new Councilmen -to the stand and ask if they have any words to say to the audience. Councilman Krieger: Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, ladies and gentlemen. I think it is a remarkable ceremony that we witnessed tonight, the orderly transition of government.. This is unique to our system of government and is what we steadily defend when we go to the polls and when we run for elective office. The greatest satisfaction to me in the results of last week was not my own election; it was the unparalled turnout of voters in the City.. I believe this turnout was a clear mandate for the Council to confront and to move ahead in the solution of problems within our community, to face progressively and constructively these problems without reference to personality. I can only dedicate my term of office on the Council to the service • of the citizens of West Covina. I wish to impart dignity to the office and to exercise mature and honest judgment in.the interest of all • of the citizens of our community. In effect, I pledge to take every aspect of my office seriously except myself. Councilman Nichols: I would like to thank the voters of the City of West Covina for their very great vote of confidence in me and in the things for which I and my collegue spoke. I would say further that with the help of my colleagues who will be sitting with us on the City Council I hope to talk as little as possible and do as much as possible for everyone in our City. Ca Co 4/21/64 Page Three Councilman Snyder: It is extremely gratifying to see the turnout tonight just as it was gratifying to see the turnout in the election, All the people we talked to during the campaignq coffee hours and otherwise, I think this is a victory of the people and I am sure this Council recognizes their responsibility to them in this victory, There are responsibilities to serve not just their needs as a City but also to establish leadership in not only solving some of the present problems but anticipated problems and establish leadership in West Covina as the central city of'this metropolitan area, l'believe also we received a strong mandate to continue our planning and zoning principles on a basic set of criteria as outlined in the General Plan, I think we received an indication from the people in this City that they expect us to use this as our criteria not only in zoning but in planning for the future and what we can promise the people, I think also that we received a strong mandate to build a balanced city, The function of a City Council and Councilmen is to serve and to serve in furnishing those services in addition to the basic ones such es cultural activities, parks and recreation that go to make a city the:.balanced city as it is defined,in the dictionary. I think the purpose of this new Council will not just be to serve the privileged few but the • individual both singly and collectively. I also think that we shall attempt to not just set a record but set a tradition. Regarding the outgoing Councilmen I would like to set a tradition such as Frank Towner has set, He has consistently over eight years fought, for many of'the good things this City has had, He has persisted ma-ny times in.a lonely fight for many of these things, Claude Barnes has remained consistently loyal to this City and has served the City well over the last seven years, Mr, Frank M, Towner: I am very greatful to these fine men who have stepped forward and will share the burdens of our City in the future years, I am confident they will do an unusually fine job, Mr, Claude L, Barnes: It has been a real pleasure for me to be a part of,the City Council of West Covina and I think West Covina is one of the finest cities in the State of California, I have served with some very fine men on the Council and I think it is a pleasure to have worked with some of these gentlemen because of their loyal attitude toward the City, We have had our differences in opinion in many cases but • this does not always mean that we are still not loyal to our City, • I would like to thank the many friends I made while on the Council, I know I have made many enemies but as Judge Martin once said "When you serve for seven years you usually meet everybody inthe City at time or another" and perhaps you make enemies by doing this in some cases. I would alsolike to thank the employees of the City of West Covina because I think we have one of the finest groups of employees that any city would be fortunate to have, I think they are a credit to us as far as public relations and their high standards, -3- 8 • • • • C, C, 4/21/64 would like to thank tonight is all the nights I haven't been Page Four Another very special person I my wife, Shirley, for putting up with at home, (Introduced wife,) During this campaign I have heard a great deal about leadership. I would like to be the first who would agree with proper leadership because in my estimation leadership is something that you do which accomplishes something for your city in one way or another. I think the new Council will have a great deal of responsibility in living up to some of the past Councils in what they have done as far as leadership is concerned. I think some of the things I would like to express tonight that I feel I have had a great part in are as follows: I was part of the first ministerial association along with Mr,Gershler of our City staff, This organization has grown and it no longer needs our leadership. It has become a very effective organization on its own,, I would like at this time to thank all of the ministers.who have participated at the Council meetings, This has been a real credit to our City, I was also ex officio of the Police and Fire Committee, We have home rule and at that time we almost had County services, I would like to thank those men who served with me, I have also served in many other organizations such as with Mayor Yorty on the Committee of Mayors for Mutual Aid between Cities, the Rapid Transit Committee, which Mr, Williams served with Mayor Faull and it has now become Senate Bill 41, I think if we are going to talk about leadership we should talk about men like Harry Williams, Mr, Faull, Supervisor Bonelli and all these gentlemen who cooperate so well with our City to help out in any way they can, Our General Plan was brought back to West Covina by Councilman Heath and myself. We were at the League of California Cities and felt that this was a good idea. I think these accomplishments are the type of things we would like to see the City go forward in and I hope in the years to come that I may look back and see that some of these things that we have done in the past years have been something that we can be proud of, give up my chair, City Clerk, Mr, Flotten: Councilman Krieger: City Clerk, Mr, Flotten: At this time I would like to Gentlemen of the Council, the next order of business is to elect a new Mayor for the ensuing year, Mr, City Clerk, I would like to nominate for the Mayor of West Covina Councilman Norman G, Snyder, Councilman Snyder has been nomi- nated. A nomination needs no second, &In C. C, 4/21/64 Page Five Councilman Heath-, Mr. City Clerk,, I would like to nominate a person who has polled the highest number of votes this City has ever had ana in my estimation I think this man is very sincere when he says he can work with anybody and will work with them in a harmonious tone. I am convinced that this man is capable of doing these things and I think that he deserves a chance at leading us in harmonious relations. I would therefore nominate Russ Nichols. City Clerk, Mr, Flotten-, Mr. Russ Nichols has been nominated. Motion by Councilman Jett,, seconded by Councilman Snyder, and carried,, that the 'nominations be closed. City Clerk, Mr, Flotten-, The voting will be by secret ballot. Mr. Williams will read the results. (The Council voted.) City Attorney, Mre Williams-, Nichols,, Nichols. Snyder,, Snyder,, Snyder,, Mayor Snyder took his place as Mayor.' • Mayor Snyder-, We will entertain a motion for Mayor Pro Tem. Councilman Krieger-, Based upon the qualities that Mr. Heath has spoken about I nominate for Mayor Pro Tem of the City Council of the City of West Covina Mr. Russ Nichols. Mayor Snyder Councilman Nichols has been nominated. Are there any more? Motion by Councilman Heath, seconded by Councilman Krieger, that the Council cast.a unanimous ballot for Mr. Russ Nichols for Mayor Pro Tem for the ensuing year. Motion passed on roll call as follows: Ayes: Councilmen Krieger, Noes-. None Absent: None Abstained: Councilman Nichols Heath, Jett,.Mayor Snyder Mayor Snyder: I think if the Council remembers its main goals to serve the City of West Covina and never forget the main issues and principles behind those goals that we have enough problems to solve than any • minor difficulties or differences we have. If we continue to fight for those main goals again much can be accomplished over the next two years. -5- C, Ca 4/21/64 Page Six There being no further business, Motion by Councilman Jett, seconded by Councilman Heath' and carried, that this meeting be adjourned at 9:05 P,M, ATTEST: • CITY CLERK • • so