05-01-1972 - Regular Meeting - Minutes1
MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
IN JOINT SESSION WITH
YOUTHADVISORY COMMISSION
CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA
MAY 1, 1972.
The adjourned regular meeting of the City Council in joint session
with the Youth Advisory Commission was called to order at 7:39 P.M.,
in the West Covina Council Chambers by Mayor Robert Young. The Pledge
of Allegiance was given.
ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Young; Councilmen: Shearer, Lloyd, Chappell
Absent: Councilman Nichols
Youth Advisory Comm.
Present: Chairman Weber; Commissioners: Stokes, Woodward,
Wilson
Commissioner Martha Lewis (Arrived late)
Others Present: George A.iassa, : City. Manager
Lela W. Preston, City Clerk.
George Zimmerman, City .Engineer
Alec Andrus, Administrative Analyst
Ray Silver; Administrative -Analyst, Jr..
Chuck Stearns,.Advisor to Youth Advisory Commission
(Mayor Young stated at 7:41 P.M., that the Joint.Session would convene
to the City Manager's Conference Room. Meeting reconvened at 7:50 P.M.)
Mayor Young: My understanding of the format.this evening is
that the Youth Advisory Commission does have a
rather complete agenda to go through, most of
which I am sure Council is welcome to sit in on. Am I correct
Mr. Chairman, that the proper concern you have this evening in regard
to a joint meeting has to do with the soon to be expiration of terms
of the Youth Advisory Commission. Would you like to take it from there,
Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Weber: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In the resolution passed
by City Council setting up.the Youth Advisory
Commission our expiration date is May 31. We
felt it would be detrimental to the Commission to change hands right
now. One of the reasons, there hasn't been any publicity of this fact
and we have no way of determining our replacements and so it would be
rather a narrow field to pick from. And the next problem is all the
programs we have now started if we were to drop them into somebody
else's lap to carry through, we believe they would, be farther behind
in implementing them than we are. So we feel it would not be feasible
to switch terms right now.
Mayor Young: Do you have a specific date?
. Chairman Weber: Yes, September 1, at the beginning of the
school year. When school first starts there is
more free time to do things in the evenings
plus more contact is made with the people at school.
Mayor Young: Is there any comment from Council on this?
Councilman Chappell: One question. Are any of you going away to
college so you would not be able to be re-
appointed?
Chairman Weber: Yes, myself and Martha Lewis will be leaving
for college; Sue will be attending Cal -Poly, so
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CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/l/72 Page Two
Joint Session
she would be in the area; and I think all three of the alternates are
leaving for College out of the area. And since we only had three
alternates we felt that really there should be more. They are not
paid but they do help tremendously with the work load. Also, we felt
some of the alternates should be younger. The alternates we have this
term are all leaving and can't take over for next year, whereas if we
had younger alternates they would have some know how of how the
Commission functions when they came into office.
Commissioner Chappell: When we picked the alternates, I believe this
was part of our thinking, that they could fill in
when one or two of you went away to college.
Mr. Mayor, I.would recommend that we change the time to September 1.
This would then give us time to advertise and get up a new list of
potential candidates. Keep the Commission intact through the summer
because they have some projects started that I would like to see them
complete and at the same time we could spend a couple of months putting
out a request through the schools that we are looking for youngsters
for the.Youth Advisory Commission.
Mayor Young Would you suggest a date like September 15?
Councilman Lloyd: Mr. Mayor. I think the timing of September
may not be a very good time even though we are
presented with a problem let us not solve the
problem with the creation of another. At the very earliest it should
be at the end of September. Most of the youth will be coming in to
school off of summer jobs or vacations and also your parents will be
concerned getting you ready for school, so I really do believe I would
•let at least 30 days go by. There may be some situation where we would
not have Commissioners for a meeting. What you are really saying is
the whole system of selection has not been adequate and there probably
is no argument on that.
I think what needs to be done, and_I suggested
this before, we can't do it now because time has run out, but I think
Council should initiate a letter to the School Districts which are
affected: West Covina High, Covina, South Hills, Edgewood, Bishop Amat,
Nogales and Rowland. Advise them we are open for applications for the
Youth Advisory Commission. Maybe we could have some posters made up,
which I would be glad to assist with, involving people's attention to
this activity.
Chairman Weber: Last year the publicity came out in April, I
believe.
Councilman Shearer: I feel that the end of September is probably
a better date. There might be a two week
period of time when some Commissioners are gone
prior to new appointments, but it is not that critical, and it will
guarantee that everybody will be back in town by the end of September.
So I would go along with that date.
Motion by Councilman Chappell, seconded by Councilman Lloyd and
*carried, to direct the City Attorney to amend the existing resolution
establishing the Youth Advisory Commission to provide for the term
expiration date of September 30, and for the ending of the present
Commissioners terms effective as of that date.
Mayor Young: With regard to appointments, I gather from some
of the comments made that you, the present
Commissioners, may have some thoughts along that
line. I think we should understand and have clarified that the
Commission is an appointing arm of this Council and exists for a
variety of purposes, which I believe we all understand, and this Council
will have the responsibility of making the appointments and of course
there will be five Commissioners appointed for one year terms. So with
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Joint Session
that comment, Chairman Weber, do you have anything else you would like
to discuss?
Chairman Weber: Yes. First with the appointment of alternates I
can't recall if the number is stated in the
resolution or not, but I think in the Steering
Committee report it states three alternates. We felt possibly more would
:be helpful, probably five to seven, because the alternates did a lot of
work this year and this will continue. With only five of us we can't
do all the work, of course, and if there are official alternates we think
it encourages them to come to meetings and to participate more.
Mayor Young:
Chairman Weber
Councilman Chappell:
Mayor Young:
Chairman Weber:
There are presently three and you are suggesting
how many - five or seven?
We discussed at least five, and that two or three
be younger, sophomores or juniors.
The resolution doesn't say how many alternates,
we just picked three, so we can beef it up if
we want to.
I gathered inherent in your remarks that you
would hope to get a revolving type situation
where the alternates would move up to Commissioners.
Yes because they then would not be coming in cold.
Councilman Chappell: I have had the thought several times during the
past year that perhaps an alternate should come
from each of the schools that we draw from so
information could be taken back to each school and they could
publicize it or not, but at least each school would be.actually repre-
sented. The problem, which you probably realize, is communications,
no matter where you sit. It is difficult to get the word where you
want it, so the alternates representing each school might be a
solution to part of your problem. It won't solve it, but it will
probably help.
Councilman Shearer: Mr. Mayor. A comment. During the discussion
on this a thought came to me -and I will throw
it.out for whatever it is worth. Perhaps for
discussion purposes consideration might be given to the various
schools: South Hills, Edgewood, West Covina, Covina, Bishop Amat,
Nogales = a total of six or possibly seven schools, and 'my. thought
would be to involve the students at each school to make this some sort
of an elective representative from the various schools, rather than
by appointment. Let the students at each school elect an alternate.
Commissioner Lewis: I really don't think they are qualified voters.
Commissioner Woodward: I agree. It would be like a popularity contest.
Who ever could get the best gimmick out would
have the votes.
,,Councilman Lloyd: In response to your suggestion, Councilman
Shearer, it is not unreasonable at all on the
basis of it and has tremendous merit, but
some youngster who has a certain tendency towards this sort of thing
and wants to be on it and strives for this type of recognition,
well you defeat by all'of a sudden getting people interested from a
popularity standpoint who neither have the time nor the inclination
to carry forward on this but do it only from a popularity standpoint.
This becomes very evident in the West -Covina Beauty Contest, that is
what they are looking at - a popularity contest and they fail to see
the service side of it, which I think is much more critical here.
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CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/l/72 Page Four
Joint Session
I think the young people who serve on this Commission have to be
bridging a very important area of communication and as such, frivolity
is always delightful, but not really acceptable. I think that nine
times out of ten you are going to be home free but I think you will
also get some youngster, who has somehow gained a demand performance
type of thing and that is the reason I would be against it.
Councilman Shearer: I wasn't thinking of this constituting an
appointment to the Commission but just the
alternates, and we would not be under any
obligation to appoint anyone of the alternates.to the Commission if
we discovered they were, as you said interested in the gay or joyous
life, we could decide they were not adequate for the job.
Councilman -Chappell: Mr. Mayor. When we screened the candidates we
looked quite a bit in depth to their attitudes,
aptitudes -and willingness, we looked into many more areas than I think
an election might bring out. I think we were looking for a unique
individual and a very special type of citizen and I think we may not
-,be.able to find that if it were just a straight election.
Mayor Young: The consensus seems to be working against the
election idea.
Commissioner.Wilson: Mr. Mayor, I would .like to see it stay with
the City Council, possibly not as it has been
done but with the basic idea, because if we
want a representative from school we can call on the A.S.P. presidents
or Counsel. I know I have gone to A.. S.P. presidents at Edgewood and
•Covina and talkdd`ito-_�.them and asked for. their help and they said they
would help at anytime.
Mayor Young: I .think you-1-have a consensus from Council that
pretty well resolves that problem. 1I believe
immediately we should initiate through staff
procedures to bring about a selection of commission members. I don't
think this is the time or place to seek commitments from those present
until the'Council discusses further. I will be touching base with
each of you individually, if not personally. through staffs to determine
that. So no one needs to feel he is on the spot right now, and we
will immediately initiate procedures to bring in fresh input from
the schools in terms of personnel that would like to serve on this
Commission.
Mr. Aiassa: When this Commission was created I think we
were following both Councilman Shearer's
thinking and Councilman Lloyd's thinking.
We were trying to reach the individual that usually sits in the back
but has a lot of input but won't come forward and by doing it this
way it gave that individual an opportunity to compete against
"Mary Jane" who is the "swinger", but it put them all on an equal
par and brought out a lot of students that would not apply if it were
not done on this basis. That is why we got 60 applicants. The original
Committee that set this up went into a lot of detail and tested it
and what Commissioner Wilson and Chairman Weber were pointing out is
*that if we went on a popularity basis we could pick the kids"out"tight
now but if we wanted some further input then we have to dig deeper.
Mayor Young: I believe this 'concludes the items before us
unless Chairman Weber has something further
or the Council? (Chairmah.Weber_indicated he
had no further comments.)
Councilman Chappell: I think the chair should express to this
Commission - starting from scratch, cold -
and with little guidance, and tell them what we think of what they
have done this past year.
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CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/1/72 Page Five
Joint Session
Mr. Stearns:
Mr. Mayor, before the chair moves
to adjourn,
Advisor
I
would like to'apologize for my
tardiness but
I
was stuck in the elevator and I
don't know if
this issue was discussed
or not. I would like to see a
component
built in that
guarantees
some members of the Commission
to be retained
for the next
year rather
than have five new Commissioners
each year.
Mayor Young: This is one of those mysterious operations of
City Government where City Council's hold
a jealously guarded prerogative. The Commission
is set up with a one year term. I would be very much surprised if it
meant we had all new commissioners. If there were two year terms or
staggered terms developed this would be a matter of fresh consideration
by Council and I think it would certainly be well received.
Mr. Stearns: This has been brought up in regard to the
alternates and all the alternates attend all
the meetings and if you had six alternates it
would assure the consistency of the Commission.
Mayor Young: It is a unique situation to have a one year term
and we are not used to it. It may well be that
after further experience it will develop into a
two year term but at the moment I believe we have every reason to
believe there will be continuity on the Commission.
Councilman Chappell: With the way they graduate and go off to college
or don't go off to college it would be almost
impossible for us to take them longer than a year.
There is no doubt in my mind as an individual Councilman that the five
•
could be reappointed but we already find out that two are going away
to college and are not going to be around.
Councilman Lloyd: I think that we have to be very cautious in
retaining people. The major concept of this is
to have a turnover and while I can see an
advantage in having someone come up from an alternate and become a
Commissioner, nevertheless this may preclude some person who did not
have that opportunity or didn't come off'the box quite quick enough. In
high school _ the variance from a freshman to a senior is a very vast
difference. I like the prerogative of choosing and reserve the idea
of let's change it. I realize it may be a bit chaotic but it serves
the City and also these people here. They are a part of the funcion
and I think we should afford as many youngsters as possible the
opportunity. I think it,is a marvelous opportunity, these people
have learned more about City Government, and one of the.sad problems
we have in our community today is that hot -.only -people of their age
do not know City Government but people who are 50 and 60 do not
and this is the way we can overcome this situation, and why I am
delighted with the proposal of more alternates. My reaction is one
year. That gives somebody else a chance to come on and that doesn't
in anyway reflect, for instance Ken, he has two more years of
high school, if he were reappointed next year and the next year
there are two youngsters that haven't had that opportunity. I am
not saying I am not going to vote for. him on that basis but I want
the right to reserve .on that. I recognize it -makes it more difficult
for staff. I lean towards the idea of putting -in fresh blood.
What I am saying really is that nobody is automatically in at all.
Mr. Stearns was suggesting the retention of people on the basis that
we need old timers and I am saying maybe.we should change it each
year. Maybe we should afford someone else the opportunity to serve.
Mayor. Young: These are obviously areas that have to be open
for thinking all the way around because we
are all new in this business of the Youth
Commission. You are only young for a very minor portion of your
life and old for a much longer time.
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CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/l/72 Page Six
Joint Session
Mr. Aiassa: One comment. This does not preclude you people
from becoming possible candidates for reappoint-
ment but you are not automatically filling the
osition, you have to compete with the new blood but you can still be
eselected. I believe that is what you were saying - Councilman Lloyd?
Councilman Lloyd: Not quite, but yes, all those on the Commission
right now are all qualified for selection again.
But what I was saying was I have not made up my mind whether I will
arbitrarily say you have served one year and that is it. I am inclined
towards that and I understand what Mr. Stearns was saying - he was
saying if we are going to work with this Commission and'have it a
viable working, livable force in the community we need some experience
and that means young people that have already served and so we should
consider retention. What I am saying in rebuttal is if we retain them
I am stopping another youngster from serving.
Mayor Young: I have attended many of the Commission meetings
and I am sure I am as aware. as anyone on the
Council of the growing pains and problems in
getting underway and at the moment I would be certainly predisposed
and I think we are getting into a discussion that should not be
prolonged in this setting, but nonetheless I would say my predisposi-
tion,while recognizing your I position Councilman Lloyd, my predisposi-
tion would be to see continuity on\the Commission if not for always at
least for now in this pioneer age of the Commission.
Councilman Chappell: With five new Commissioners each year we would
• not get the benefit of a real workload out'of
any Commission at anytime because it takes three
to six months to even find out what direction you are heading. If you
did that we strictly would only be able to go to a West Covina night
at Dodger Stadium and a few little things like that and never get
into any study indepth as to the relationship of the youth in our
community. So if we are going to...have projects of any consequence
we are going to have to have leadership renewed from time to time.
Mayor Young: Is there a reason then to prolong this
particular discussion?
Commissioner Woodward: Mr. Mayor, I don't quite understand. Are we
going to be picked the same way as last year,
going through all the.filing of the applica-
tion and interviews?
Mayor Young: This is precisely what I felt we should not
prolong in conversation at this point. What
we have before us at present - there will be at
least two Commissioners on the present Commission unavailable for
service next year and this we know and we have instructed staff to
immediately institute selection proceedings to replace those two
Commissioners. We have also arrived at a consensus, I believe, that
there should be five or six alternates and we are open on all the
other subjects discussed so far as the continuance of the terms of
commissioners - Council is open for further discussion on that.
Councilman Lloyd: Mr. Mayor - when will we make that decision?
Mayor Young: At such point as it is properly before us and
I don't think it is right now. All we have to
do now is appoint five Commissioners and five or
six alternates for the 1972-73 school year and these are the processes
that will be underway forthwith. That is exactly what we have
accomplished up to this point.
Councilman Lloyd: How is this to take place?
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CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/1/72 Page Seven
Joint Session
Mayor Young: The same way it took place last year. We will
have names brought before us as a result of
the publicity in the schools. We will use
application forms and interviews. I will contact the existing
Commissioners and present to Council the names of those available for
the second year of service and the selection process will take place
from that point and we have until September 30th to fill the vacancies.
(Discussion followed on how this was to be handled and if.Council'were
to be involved in the selecting process, etc. etc.)
Motion by Councilman Shearer that City Council direct staff to contact
each of the six high schools asking their cooperation in giving
publicity for the selection of names as applicants for the Youth
Advisory Commission, using the application blanks as was done last year.
Seconded by Councilman Lloyd.
Commissioner Wilson: Mr. Mayor - will the Commission be asked to help
on this in anyway?
(Commissioners all indicated a desire to help.)
Mr. Aiassa: Mr Mayor, I would like to have an opportunity
for myself and my staff to meet with the
•Commission in regard to the letter and how best
to release it and further I would like Council to approve the letter as
to form. We have had some experience in releasing material to
the schools and I think the.Commissioners are a tremendous vehicle for
the release of this and to let the schools know there are definite
openings and how they go about applying. Also the form we used
last year had some bugs in it and the letter did, but I think the
motion is general enough to provide the vehicle for working with the
Youth Advisory Commission.
Councilman Shearer: There is nothing implied in my motion that
would prevent staff from working with the
Youth Advisory Commission.
Mayor Young: Nor would it preclude the enthusiastic partici-
pation on the part of the Commission itself in
the recruiting:of applicants from the various
schools for this Commission.
Councilman Chappell: How long will it take the City Manager to get
this done? We are a month and a half away
from the close of school. It was my idea that
we were talking about doing this immediately and getting out the
publicity immediately in order to get a good reaction from the schools.
Mr. Aiassa: I think we would have something for the Council
by May 15th if the Council would desire to have
a short meeting at 4:30 P.M. to approve the
letter at that time.' Unless you want to give us the green light to
proceed without approval of the Council on the letter.
Councilman Lloyd: If any of the Councilmen wishto have an input
they could certainly communicate with the
City Manager and he could take care of it. You
have a general motion on the floor which I think covers the will of
this Council very well indicating go forward.
Mayor Young: I agree with Councilman Lloyd. I think the
draft of the letter could be circulated to
Council and if we have suggestions or
objections we can make them known.
CITY COUNCIL and YOUTH ADVISORY COMM. 5/l/72 Page Eight
Joint Session
J Mr. Stearns: Mr. Mayor. Since the resolution does open
the application to those youngsters 14 years of
age through 19, I was wondering if
Councilman Shearer's motion would encompass the intermediate schools
and if not, I would suggest an amendment to the motion to include the
intermediate schools.
(Discussion followed by Council on including or not including the 14
year olds; and whether the resolution shoiild be amended'.to-.rdad only
high school students.and up.to age 19.).
Councilman Shearer: I would like to see my motion stand as I stated.
If there is a 14 year old at'Cameron or
Hollencrest and he hears about it then he can
come down and make application.
Motion carried.
Mayor Young: Is there further business to come before us as
a joint body at this time, Chairman Weber?
(Answered: No sir.) Any member of Council have anything further?
I would like to.say then on behalf of the Council that we do thoroughly
appreciate your work and your interest and in this joint meeting you
see some of the ins and outs of the exterior workings of the
legislative body and the City, and we appreciate your pioneering efforts
and know that great things will come from this. We especially
appreciate Mr. Stearns' great amount of time and effort he expends
to this project. We will also be losing Alec before long and we wish
• you God speed in that and I know the Commission does too.
It is perfectly obvious from the remainder of
your agenda that you do have some ongoing work to be done so if there
is a motion from Council to adjourn we can get out of your hair.
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Councilman Chappell, seconded by
Councilman Lloyd and carried, to adjourn
this meeting at 8:30 P.M.
ATTEST:
City Clerk
MAYOR
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