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10-24-1980 - Regular Meeting - Minutes• • • M I N U T E S ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL City of West Covina October 241, 1980 The adjourned regular meeting of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Shearer at 6:00 PM in the City Hall Council Chambers, 1444 W..Garvey Avenue, West Covina. The pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Pro Tem Tice. ROLL CALL Present: Others Present: Recess for Redevelopment Agency WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC WORKS Mayor Shearer, Mayor Pro Tem Tice, Councilmen Chappell, Tennant Mooney, Fast, Lennard, Eliot, Miller, Thomas, Diaz, E. Williams, Volmert, Berry Mayor Shearer called a recess at 6:02 PM for the pur- pose of conducting the Redevelopment Agency meeting. Council reconvened at 6:05 PM. 1.. Mailgram dated October 18, 1980, received from Howard Pomerantz requesting consideration for appoint- ment to the City Council. 2. Letter dated October 20, 1980, received from Betty Joyce requesting consideration for appointment to the City Council. 3. Letter dated October 22; 1980, received from Robert Mahan requesting consideration for appointment to the City Council. . 4. Letter of support for the appointment of Betty Joyce received from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Donnellan. 5. Letter of support for the appointment of Betty Joyce received from Donald Grant. 6. Letter of support for the appointment of Betty Joyce received from Winston Dunning. 7. Letter of support for the appointment of Betty Joyce received from Art Serrano. ; . Mayor Shearer noted that the letters listed were not the tota_1 .in.pu:t;,_receiVied by;the, council, .,they, were simply the.corres.pondence;sent to CityHa,11...:.,He said many people had communicated directly with council members;. -and he also >note,d ..the ,receipt, of ;.two.,. other —letters., Motion .by.Ghappell,.,seeonded by. .Tice and unanimously carried to receive and file all written communications. FINAL MAP APPROVAL - TRACT 38828 - J.H.HEDRICK & CO. FINAL MAP APPROVAL Location- Northerly of Merced Avenue, approximately 300 J.H.HEDRICK & CO, feet easterly of Glendora Avenue. Review Engineer's Report. Recommendation is to adopt the following: CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24, 1980 Page 2 RESOLUTION NO. 6209 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING FINAL TRACT MAP OF TRACT 38828 AND ACCEPTING • AN AGREEMENT BY THE SUBDIVIDER AND SURETY BONDS TO SECURE THE SAME. Adoption of Motion by Chappell, seconded by Tice, and unani- Resolution No. 6209 mously carried to waive further reading of the resol- ution and to adopt. AWARD OF BIDS 1. SP-80041 - AZUSA CHANNELIZATION Council reviewed staff's report. SP-80041 Motion by Chappell, seconded by Tennant to award CROWELL AND LARSON the contract with CROWELL AND LARSON, Baldwin Park, in the amount of $19,571.00 as presented at the bid opening and authorize,' the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the contract. Motion carried by roll call vote: AYES: Tennant, Chappell, Tice, Shearer NOES: None BID NO. 81-31 2. CITYWIDE LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE OF THE FREEWAY CREATIVE LANDSCAPING, INC. RIGHT-OF-WAYS AND MEDIANS, BID NO. 81-31 Council reviewed staff's report. Motion by Tice, seconded by Chappell to award the contract with CREATIVE LANDSCAPING, INC., in the amount of $84,000.00 and authorized the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the agreement. Motion carried by roll call vote, • AYES: Tennant, Chappell, Tice, Shearer NOES: None Shearer clarified the areas in the City to be main- tained. DEMANDS Motion by Tice, seconded by Chappell to approve the Demands totaling $813,229.30 as listed on Demand Regis- ter -No. UCB 82190. Motion carried by roll call vote: AYES:. Tennant, Chappell, Tice, Shearer NOES:- ' None COUNCIL DISCUSSION RE VACANT COUNCIL POSITION --• VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION Shearer Gentlemen, at this time, we.get to the meat of the agenda. Before we open it up for Council discussion, we're going to ask the City Attorney to give us a review. I'm sure we've all been told, we've read it in the paper, but sometimes, with all due respect to Dan, sometimes there might be -a little variation, so, Mr. Lennard, would you outline for us, what the Council's options are with regard to filling of the vacancy. Lennard: Yes, Mr. Mayor. 'Under the provisions of the Government Code, once a vacancy is created on a City Council, the City Council then has the option of appointing another member to fill the vacancy within 30 days from the date the vacancy was created. If it does not appoint someone from the community to fill that • vacancy within that 30 days, then the Council has no discretion but to call an election to fill that vacancy. In addition to which, if it appoints within the 30 days, the Council must appoint for the remainder of the unexpired term. Shearer: Again, to avoid confusion - because at woe ,tfine�?there^was-a point in our history -because of an urgency ordinance, Mr. Lennard.,(, by your predecessor, he told us it was alright that we made an interim appointment for the time up to the next election. But that was an action the Council had to take before we made the appointment. Is that still possible? CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24, 1980 Page 3 Lennard: That's still possible, if it's up until the next election, at which that person's seat would be up in any case. • Shearer: Are there any questions? 'Does everyone understand, are there any of the City Attorney on that subject? questions Chappell: Okay, then Mayor, our decision tonight is toldecide whether we're going to appoint or have an election, is that correct. Shearer: Yes and no. I think that perhaps we should address that question, as I understand, Mr. Lennard, we can't vote to make an appointment and then not make it within 30 days. That action will just sort of automatically take care of itself if we don't settle on a particular candidate. If there is a motion and a second to have an election, we can vote and do it with the maj- ority and we can all go home. But we can't vote just to make an appointment without making the appointment, if you understand. So I guess now that I've thoroughly confused everyone, why don't we discuss the point of an election versus an appointment. Tice: You mean our personal feelings on that Mayor? Shearer: Well, that's part of the job, there are only four of us here and that whole burden falls right here. Tice: I'll kick it off. I've received a number of contacts, both by phone and personally, regarding election versus appoint- ment. And I'd say all, everyone who's contacted me, has favored an appointment - they don't want to put the city through another election. I've personally weighed the pros and the cons of the election versus appointment, having gone through a similiar sit- uation a number of years ago, myself, when I first got on the Council. I am favoring the appointment of an individual rather than an election, to save the city money and also so that we can get on with our business, as we have a lot of.trying issues coming before us. So I would support an appointment. Chappell: Mayor, if I may. At the last meeting, I expressed myself and I'll just relate the comments that I had. My comment is, that if there was time, I would prefer an election, as I also recommended that we do last time. But since the election could not be held until March, and that would be 7 or 8 months before the candidates would have to start campaigning again for re-election of the seat or election of the seat, I would say that to save the cost ,to candidates,-.`!,�,which costs are now rising rather rapidly - in the thousands of dollars.- whY* the first campaign that I ran cost $24 and the last campaign that I ran cost more than I have spent in all five elections prior to that. That. would be unfair to ask the citizens of the community to come up with this money in such a short period of time; so, I favor that the City Council appoint someone to fill Nevine Browne's unexpired term. Shearer: Mr. Tennant, you wish to speak. e Tennant: Mr. Mayor, I think at the last two meetings and in the press I've made a statement that I favor an election. And the reason I said that is it's to me - it's a little bit philosophic in that I like to give people a good choice, and feel that people who want to serve in office really to sort of pay their dues. Perhaps, I'm a little biased having just gone through my first election ever and having spent a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of emotions maybe I'm a little bit mean in that I think somebody else ought to go through it too. And so I tend to favor an elec- tion though philosophically as far as the fact that I think that campaigning also brings you into contact with a lot of people and .makes you express your views. - 3 - CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24, 1980 Page 4 j Tennant (cont) I should say; however, in the.last week I have received a large number of communications, the majority of which are fav- oring an appointment to a great extent, because of the cost involved, the cost of the election,. as I understand it:+w_auld pro- bably be somewhere in the neighborhood -of $20,000 and I could think of a lot of things that I would like to see us spend $20,000 for before an election. I also have been made very well aware of the fact that given a lot of our problems in West Covina we need -five good persons up here rather than four. And I think that's true, so I have moved off my position a little bit in that if there is a.candidate for appointment that would meet the criteria that I'.ve set down or who I would sup- port,then I would go for an appointment. But I've got some pretty stringent criteria as to.who I would be willing to select for an appointment. Shearer: One, Two, Three. There we have it. However, unless it comes up one, two, three with a particular individual, then we don't have it. It does appear to me that we have a consensus; but, at least we should start out in the direction towards an appointment. Therefore, I will participate obviously in the pro- cess, even though my first thoughts were, and somewhat still are, that it ought to be an election. Partly that's because I have great difficulty in trying to select among many people who are well qualified, my friends. It's one thing to say yes to a friend it's another thing to say no. But in that regard, I have many 'friends who .I don't feel that I can say yes to in this regard. And ah, one's over there! So, my wife, in case you • were wondering who I was pointing to, not you Marilyn, well you are a friend too, but I mean not in that context:. So it is a very tough situation that we find ourself in. The cost of an election has been mentioned to me and I can remember a comment that was made sometime ago. Maybe when I make the comment, the person who is in the audience who made it to me will remember. The person said in essence, "Democracy is not the cheapest form of government." That's true. So my decision with regard to the appointment is not because it might save the city some money, because I believe that that. statement o..as':t-rue'.thep, it's true now. So I will enter in to the discussion, I wi112 when the time comes; state who I favor and"then if two other men join me in that, we'll have the matter resolved. If we don't reach a consensus either tonight or within 30 days, then the pro- cess will continue to ari election as Mr. Lennard has said, in the month of March. Okay gentlemen, now comes the time. Tice: Mr. Mayor., Shearer: Someone want to be the first one out of the box? Tice: I might as well do that.too.' Shearer: Mayor Pro Tem Tice. Tice: There have been a lot of fine names that have come up in • this appointment•to fill the vacancy of Mayor Browne who resigned. I look out here in the,audierice and I see a number of these people. I see Mary, Nancy, Betty. Jim'•s name has been in there. These people all possess abilities of one type or another, and, for the most part, I think that they - or at least I should say - I really try to consider all factors in making the final selection in my own choice. Not everybody can be on the Council, but that should not stop other people from running or participating in the city activities in the future. One of the criteria is that I have been looking for is some- - 4 - 0 • CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24; 1980 Page 5 Tice (cont) body - especially now with the trying times we are going through somebody who possesses some experience in serving an elected office in prior years. Somebody who has been active in the com- munity for a good number of years; 'and I think that individual is Harvey Krieger. I think Mr. Krieger has served this community well.' He served on the council and as Mayor and he served at a time when we had a rather strong growth pattern - and that would try any elected official's soul, I believe. Mr. Krieger decided not to run after his first term; but, however, continued to serve the city in many capacities and in 1976 he decided to try and run again. He lost the election to one of the -incumbents by a very small margin. Harvey still continues to work in this city and serve the community. So my recommendation, my choice is Mr. Harvey Krieger. Shearer: Mayor Pro Tem Tice. Anyone else wish to place anyone up tonight and I'm assuming that if .anyone of the Council members - correct me if I'm wrong Mr. Lennard - wishes to offer more than one -name for Council's consideration, that is possible. That might make matters a little more difficult, but .that's within the purview of the many of us. Chappell: Mayor, if I may. Shearer: Councilman Chappell. Chappell: I too feel that the person that we appoint, that the consensus should be someone who has been active in our community, someone. who has a track record of being a person who knows what's going on within the city, how the city operates, how things are done, how decisions` -.are made, and how the ordinances and resolutions and all that have been compiled, and their capacity basically support those positions. I too have a number of good friends who I have talked to and they have talked to me about this appointment. We can only make one appointment and this list that I have contains' several outstanding citizens. At a time like this the citizen doesn't have to be anti -city or anti -any member of the Council. They can come in with the idea that West Covina has 'a good commu pity, it's,been a good community, and they want to continue the city in that direction. And therefore, in asking to be appointed to this vacancy, they would continue to support the city in the concepts of our city that we've held over the past ten, twelve years. The gentleman that I am going to recommend at this time is a long time member of the planning commission. He is very, very active in our community with various organizations: youth, as well as health organizations. He certainly comes with all the credentials of an outstanding background, and that gentleman, at this time, is Robert Bacon. Shearer: One of the advantages of being Mayor, is that you get to be quiet until the end. Tennant: I - as I mentioned a while ago, since I am basically, and still at this time, would not be disappointed to see us move to:an election - I have listed down the criteria that someone would have to meet for me to go for an appointment. If I could give you what those criteria are, because I see, too, a lot of good friends in the audience. I see many people that -if there was an election that I might support, that I would not support for.an appointment. And so I would like to give you what my criteria are and then tell you who I have selected. First off, I too would like someone, who has a long history of community service, well recognized, citizen of the year cali- ber individual, if you will. I'd like to appoint somebody who - 5 - CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24, 1980 Page 6 Tennant (cont) is well known. I think at these times we have to have some- one who is well recognized, the name is recognized. We have so many problems right now that I could not support what • would be called an unknown. Thirdly, I'd like to have some- body who has outstanding honesty and integrity. Those of us who have been sitting on the Council, and I hope we don't show our hostility too often, have, frankly, been given an awful lot of things lately that border on either dishonesty or intentional distortion of facts. So I want to pick some-.;.-• body that I personally have not had any question about their honesty or integrity or ability to assimilate facts correctly. Next, I'd like to have someone who has had some experience in electoral service before. Someone who has gone out there and put their name on the line, paid their.money and taken their chances. The next thing:;; I won't go for anybody who is a so-called one issue candidate. Due to the crisis of the land- fill and some other problems lately, we've had a lot of one issue people who were trying to make their name on that issue. We have a lot more things going on in West Covina than a land- fill.-,:,:.There..are :other.-�causes- that p'eople.,champion., '.The next thing is that - perhaps, I would pu't this -criteria differ- ently than anyone else on the Council, but I'm going to stand by it and I always will - and that is, this person is going to have to be somebody who is supported by our commerce and busi- ness community. One of the things people don't like to think about is that we're no longer a community of residents. We're a community of residents plus a big commercial community. And that commercial community is paying our bills right now, and • it's going to pay our bills in the next decade. We've got to have that sales tax base. We've got to have redevelopment. We've got.to have these things in order to finance all our ser- vices. So, I will not support anybody who is not well supported and well thought of in our business community. Next, I want someone who.is articulate. If any of you have attended the Council meetings lately, you've got to be able to stand up and put your backbone up there and say a few things, and -you've got to be able to say it with vigor and with force and with sincer- ity. I want someone who.is articulate. And lastly, I want somebody who I think will make a sacrifice personally and finan- cially to take this job. And agin,, I'm going to express some of my own biases as a professional man. It costs me money to serve here. But I do it out of my choice. I'm ne therccompli- menting myself or apologizing or asking for sympathy or empathy, but I do think the mark of somebody who is going to do well in this job, is somebody who is going to take some sacrifice econo- mically to take this job. And I've got one person that I think meets all this criteria, so I'm going to second the motion of .Herb Tice in my selection of Harvey Krieger. Shearer: Well, there isn't any more, so I' guess it's my turn to stick my neck out. I can count, and I guess I could do a number of things. I could tie it up a number of reasons and I could solve it right now. But, 'I have a speech to make first and I want to make it. And I would suggest that the Minutes, Mr. Fast, reflect • verbatim the comments of all Council members this evening, and not summarize. If we use poor English, so be it. I think it's important that the written record reflect the things that the Council said for whoever vwishes, later to review and compare our actions with what we said. This is a very difficult decision, one that I would rather not have to make. But as Harry Truman said, "If you don't like the heat, don't get in the kitchen," or some variation of that regard. There was one item that I wanted to mention earlier that I forgot with regard to input. I too received quite a bit of CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Shearer (cont) • October 24, 1980 Page 7 input with regard to favoring an appointment over an election. On the surface, that might be very impressive; however, I won- der if those same people who contacted me, wrote me, saw me in person (as some did last night at the high school at open house) and said I favor an appointment and I think you should appoint blank - and fill in the blank. I wonder if they will favor an election if the name that appears in that blank doesn't happen to.be the one that they said to appoint. So just because a lot of people came forward and.said, "I support Tom, Dick, Harry," I'm not sure in my mind, because I didn't take the time, I didn't want to be argumentative, and say, "Well, now if it's someone else, do you still favor an appointment?" Are we talking about principle or are we talking about my candidate. And if my candi- date;::gets the job, you guys did it great, you really did what the people wanted, you made an appointment, pat me on the back and say you're a great guy. If I don't appoint their candidate, but I still do the same thing, the same principle;°:the same concept, I'm wondering if I'll be a bum.. Time will tell. I too have received considerable input, letters to me person- ally as well as those that have come and are on our agenda. Calls, as I indicated, people face-to-face on the street, some were volun- ..teers, volunteering their. own service, others offered comments on individuals mentioned as possible appointees. And I'll have to expect, that in political campaigns, which I guess this also is sort of a political campaign. If I'were to accommodate all of those who have given me input, this is about what I would have to do: I would have to vote to appoint at least a dozen people, each with a fra- ction of a vote to serve until March, and then have an election. Because I have had some input that the people, the minority, with some input that said we'favor an election. Now obviously, this is ridiculous, it wouldn't satisfy anyone and besides that, it's illegal. Neither can I rely solely on the number of contacts for one person, because if that -were the case, then that --tells me we do it by election and that's not what I hear people -saying they want to do. Therefore, I must do as I will on November 4th, and that is to make a judgement based on all the facts and my own biases that we all have - and I won't deny that I have -some biases, not very many, but we all have them. And one big difference here is that everyone will know how I voted. I can't go in the ballot box and vote for somebody and then if he wins I can say, wow, and if he loses I can say I didn't vote for him. There can only be one winner, from among many outstanding candidates. The many who are not selected, in my opinion; are not losers, but they're winners if for no.other reason but that they are interested in serving our community. I believe that the person that I vote for must possess several qualities, especially during this very difficult period in our city's history. From the time that I moved here to West Covina in the 1960's I think right now is the most critical period in our history. The:�following items I've written down. They may not.be all inclusive and they're not necessarily in the order of importance. There must be a desire for the job. I think they must have proven ability, administratively in the decision making process and a number of other areas. I think they must have a broad knowledge of city issues. As my colleague to my left, Councilman Tennant, said not a one issue candidate: I think they must have a strong personality, they must have a strong interest in our city, proven 'by a broad participation in community activities. I think they must be intelligent. They must show a willingness and an ability to work co-operatively with the City Council and staff regarding the issues - facing us. Not necessarily one who agrees with Council policy, but one who is never disagreeable. I'll wrap this up pretty soon .gentlemen, don't think I'm going to go on all night. - 7 - CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 24, 1980 Page 8 Chappell: May I make a comment here? Shearer: Let me finish. • Chappell: Ifyouu"d have told us you were going to have this thing verbatim; I think we would have all come a little better pre- pared. Okay. Shearer: This isn't a speech contest, and I should have made that comment before. After comparing candidates with this list, I still have too many names. I then arrive back to my starting point, which was to have an election, and we're not going to continue to go around in circles. Knowing however, that I really can't stop here, I have to move on that point. There- fore, at this time, among several outstanding candidates, my choice is Mr. Bacon, which means we are hung up, gentlemen, at least for the moment. Tice: Mr. Mayor, my reason - Mr. Bacon is a very able individual. I would consider Mr. Bacon for the position; however, because of these times, I felt that we needed somebody who had sat up at this table before.. Mr. Krieger has done that. He's an individual who is his own man. I think probably Harvey and I have disagreed more than we agreed over the years, but he has a logical rational for his decisions. So I will continue to support Mr. Krieger in this process. Tennant: I don't know how hung up we are. I would not be prepared to • discuss any other candidate at this particular time and perhaps you could find some way to - if we are at a bottleneck on this, it would seem to me that perhaps you could call us back since we do have some days left to make this decision. And I'm sure that I would echo what the rest of you would, and that I would give both men a look over and ask my constituents and the people I know in the community and groups I'm affiliated with to look over both persons and to go through what we've just gone through and having people get back to us, and so perhaps could I ask you to work out something that were we might come back at a later date. If we are at this time at an impasse. Shearer: That is a possibility, Councilman Tennant, because we do have several more days. I haven't counted them up, but, there is a couple more weeks. .It isn't.a matter that has to be decided this evening. I think if we need -more time, the magnitude of this issue should not be done in haste,so if that's the Council's desire, we'll reprieve to continue to discuss, with no time limit. Councilman. Chappell, do you have any rebuttal or.... Chappell: We certainly have in my mind two outstanding candidates for this position. I think that Harvey has certainly proven that he is an able leader. I think my friendship for Harvey through the years has proven -many times over. But Mr. Bacon is certainly outstanding, I would still support Mr. Bacon at this time. I think the city, as I look at it, we have a number of excellent • citizens talk to us but I think the city will be richer, well - served, if either one of these gentlemen finally are decided upon. I too feel that it appears - I know Councilman Tennant has been out of town on vacation for a full week and hasn't had the benefit of perhaps as much consideration and thought of all of the answers to make this decision tonight; although, he has come out with a candidate, and; do we have a time open within the next 10 days or so, that might, a special meeting be called or an adjourned meeting or something of that nature to perhaps dis- C :- • • • CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 242 1980 Page 9 Chappell.(cont) cuss just this one item or take up some other business that might be pressing between our regular Council meeting. Because, as I check the agenda for next week most of our time will be spent on the presentation by the state and county experts on the landfill and well certainly take up a big portion of the evening ,on' perhaps a lot of work that we normally do. You know we some- times work quite late getting that work out, that we might com- bine both areas of attempting to find a person we can, at least three of us, agree on and then conduct some other .business to make up for next Monday where we've had to -say, put it off. And maybe putting it off for two weeks or, three weeks might be too long in some areas of construction or something like that. END OF VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION Meeting scheduled Council discussed available dates to schedule another meeting. for 11/3/80 The decision was to hold a meeting on November 3, 1980,at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. OTHER ITEMS 1) Mayor Shearer suggested staff prepare a permaplaqued resol- ution of commendation for Mayor Browne in appreciation of his Permaplaqued tenure on the Council and Planning Commission. Motion was sec - resolution -- onded by Tice, and unanimously carried to approve Shearer!-s sug- Nevin Browne gestion. 2) Mayor Shearer announced the resignation of Ray Diaz, Plan- ning Director, who has accepted a job•with the City of Palm Permaplaqued Desert. Motion by Tice, seconded by Chappell, and unanimously resolution carried to approve a permaplaqued resolution of commendation Ray Diaz for Mr. Diaz. 3) Mayor Shearer announced the resignation of Harry Thomas, Permaplaqued City Engineer, who has accepted a job with the City of Simi resolution -- Valley. Motion by Chappell, seconded by Tice, and unanimously Harry Thomas carried to approve a permaplaqued resolution of commendation for Mr. Thomas. Executive Session Mayor Shearer called a recess at 6:55 PM for the purpose of conducting an -Executive Session.. Council reconvened at 8:45pm. Adjournment Motion by Tennant ,seconded by Tice and unanimously carried to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 PM. Mayor Chester.Shearer ATTEST - _My y Clerk Helene M. ooney - 9 -