Ordinance - 2273ORDINANCE NO. 2273
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA
AMENDING SECTIONS 2-67, 2-68. AND 2-69(a) AND ADDING
SECTION 2-69(e) OF CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE III, OF THE WEST
COVINA MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING APPOINTMENT AND
TERMS OF COMMISSIONERS
WHEREAS, Commissions are comprised of citizens of West Covina, serving in an advisory
role to the City Council; and
WHEREAS, the rules and procedures for City Commissioners are outlined in Chapter 2 -
Article III of the West Covina Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to amend Section 2-67, Section 2-68 and Section 2-69(a)
establishing a commissioner appointment process, which set all current City
Commissioner's terms of office to commence and expire at the same time, as well
as to add Section 2-69(e).
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA,
CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION NO. 1: Sections 2-67, 2-68 and Section 2-69(a) of Chapter 2 of Article III of the
West Covina Municipal Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2-67 Appointment, vacancies, and removal.
(a) Appointments. Each city councilmember has the_ power to appoint one (1)
commissioner each to the Human Resources Commission and the Planning
Commission, and two (2) commissioners to the Community and Senior Services
Commission. Commissioners shall be at least eighteen (18) years of age, and be
a resident and registered voter of the city at the time of his or her appointment
and throughout their term of office.
(b) Initial appointments. Initial appointments shall be made as set out in section 2-68.
(c) Vacancies. Any vacancy on any commission, from whatever cause arising, shall be filled
by the councilmember who made the appointment of the person who held the seat
immediately prior to its vacancy. If the seat of the councilmember who made the
appointment is also vacant, the remaining councilmembers may fill the commission
vacancy by majority vote. Upon a vacancy occurring, any appointment to fill such
vacancy shall be for the un-expired portion of such term.
(d) Removal. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2-69, all commissioners shall serve at
the will of their appointing councilmember and can be removed with or without cause at
any time. If the seat of the councilmember who made the appointment is vacant, the
remaining councilmembers may remove the commissioner by majority vote and fill the
vacancy created as provided for in section 2-67(c). In addition, upon an affirmative vote
Ordinance No. 2273
Page 2
of not less than four (4) members of the city council, any commissioner may be removed
for good cause, defined as (i) being convicted of any felony; or (ii) being convicted of
any crime of moral turpitude.
Any commissioner removed from a commission for good cause as defined above may not be
appointed to any city commission, ad -hoc committee, employment with the City of West Covina
(volunteer, part-time, or full-time) for a period of one year from the date of removal.
See. 2-68 Transition.
(a) All terms of commissioners in office on the effective date hereof, will expire on
the date their successor is appointed. All new commissioner terms of office will
begin on the date of each respective commissioner's appointment to office.
(b) After an application process for commissioners has been conducted as required
by law and any procedures established by the city council, each councilmember
will appoint commissioners, whose terms shall commence as provided in
Section 2-68(a), and will expire on the expiration of the appointing
councilmember's term, upon earlier removal pursuant to Section 2-67(d),
vacating office for other reason(s), including no longer meeting the
qualifications of office, or until replaced.
(c) A current commissioner may continue serving on the commission until his/her
successor is appointed.
(d) On the effective date of this ordinance, the Assistant City Clerk shall determine
the first appointment date of each commissioner to the commission on which he
or she serves and, for each commission, shall place the commissioners on a list
in order of seniority, starting with the most senior and ending with the most
junior in time of service on that commission. For any commissioners on a
commission who were initially appointed on the same date, the Assistant City
Clerk shall place the names of each such commissioner in a receptacle and then
list them in the order their names are randomly drawn. The most senior
Planning Commissioner and Human Resources Commissioner, and the two
most senior Community and Senior Services Commissioners shall be assigned
to the most senior member of the City Council based on unbroken service from
his last election date. The remaining commissioners shall likewise be assigned
to the remaining councilmembers in descending order of their seniority, using
the same method for determining mayoral rotation for those councilmembers
elected in the same election. These assignments of commissioners to
councilmembers shall be used to determine which commissioners shall leave
office upon appointment of successor commissioners by that councilmember.
Nothing herein prevents reappointment of any commissioner by their assigned
councilmember or any other councilmember.
Ordinance No. 2273
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Sec. 2-69. Term of office.
(a) Length of term. Each commissioner shall serve until removed by action of the City
Council as provided for in Section 2-67(d), vacating the office for other reason(s), or until
replaced following the date of expiration of the appointing councilmember's term.
SECTION NO. 2: Section 2-69(e) is hereby added to read as follows:
(e) (1) At least twenty one (21) days prior to certification of the results of each City
Council election, the Assistant City Clerk shall advertise that vacancies in each
commission for the corresponding council seats will occur on the date election results are
certified and new council terms begin. Applications for such vacancies shall be accepted
for a period designated in any published vacancy notice, and commissioners then serving
terns set to expire shall be permitted to submit applications for such vacancies. Each
councilmember elected at the immediately preceding election shall then make
appointments at a duly noticed public meeting for each commission seat assigned to that
councilmember, in order of seniority or mayoral selection priority, for terms to
commence at the time specified in the appointment. Each commissioner shall continue to
serve until his/her successor is appointed.
(2) At such other times as there may be one or more vacancies on any city
commission for any reason other than the election of one or more councilmembers, the
Assistant City Clerk shall advertise that such vacancy or vacancies have occurred as
required by law. Applications for such vacancies shall be accepted for a period
designated in any published vacancy notice. Appointments shall be made as provided
for in section 2-67.
SECTION NO. 3: The City Clerk shall certify the adoption of this Ordinance and
shall cause the same to be posted or published in the manner as required by law.
SECTION NO. 4: This ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days
from and after the date of its passage.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED on this 2id day of June, 2015.
r
Fredrick Sykes
Mayor
Ordinance No. 2273
Page 4
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Kimberly H Il Barlow
City Attorney
ATTEST'
hl.
Nickolas S. Lewis
City Clerk
I, NICKOLAS S. LEWIS, CITY CLERK of the City of West Covina, California, do hereby
certify that the foregoing Ordinance was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at
a regular meeting of the City Council on the 5"' day of May, 2015. That thereafter said
Ordinance was duly adopted and passed at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 2°" day
of June, 2015, by the following vote:
AYES: Spence, Toma, Warshaw, Wong, Sykes
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Nickolas S. Lewin,
City`Clerk`