Filling the Vacancy; Yes or No?

The recent passing of Dr. Peter Gardiner has left a seat unfilled with the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council.

Dr. Gardiner had been ill for some time and was forced to be away from the Council all this year and at some meetings last year.

Dr. Gardiner's seat and the seat now held by Mayor Larry Clark are the subject of a regular election to fill those two seats for a four-year term.

Currently there are six gentlemen who have taken out nominating papers and are expected to become qualified candidates for the two seats.

The clock has started on the options the current City Council members may wish to utilize to temporarily fill the seat or leave it unfilled until one of the two highest vote-getter's sits in his new seat at the first City Council meeting in December.

The City Council must either appoint someone to temporarily take the vacant seat until early December, or it can decide, using current laws, that the seat can remain vacant until early December.

What allows those options is the fact that even though a special election would normally be required to fill the seat, if no one was appointed to it, there is a section of the law that states if a regular election falls within 114 days between the time the clock starts and the end of that time, no special election would be necessary and a winner from the November 3 election will take the seat in December.

Even though I am not happy at all with the TOT Rebate and I feel strongly that it is going to bite our city, I accept the concept that the three C.C. members who worked on it and voted for it, did their best.

I also believe that during Dr. Gardiner's extended absence before he passed, the four sitting Council members did more than an adequate job governing our city during some very hard times.

I do not feel they need to appoint anyone to temporarily fill the seat.

But they do have the option of appointing someone to fill the seat for just a few months.

If the members like that option, I would need to strongly urge them not to appoint any one of the six gentlemen who have taken out nominating papers and would become qualified to be candidates for the two seats at the election.

If one of those six remained a candidate for a seat and the majority of voting Council members appointed that person, it would clearly demonstrate a bias towards that person and against the other candidates. It could also mean that if one of the candidates were appointed to fill the seat temporarily, that person would have an unfair advantage over the others because of the implied support by current City Council members.

I'm still not ready to endorse any of the six candidates, but I would hope that if the City Council decides to appoint someone, none of the six would apply for possible appointment.

If any of them did, that should trigger in others a clear sign that they should not be supported for regular election to either of the two seats in this November's election.

The City Council members do have a unique opportunity should they choose to utilize it, to honor a citizen of Rancho Palos Verdes by appointing him or her to temporarily sit in the seat left vacant with the passing of Dr. Gardiner.

There are former Mayors, City Council members, former Committee and Commission leaders, and others that could do a fine job, even though it would be for a short period of time.

I hope the current candidates standing up for possible election to the two seats available, will offer their opinions on this matter.

This is one way we can all learn their positions on matters that are unique like this and how they might deal with issues like these if they were sitting on the Council.

I don't feel there is a need to fill the vacancy and it would be legal not to.

But if the C.C. members wish to appoint someone, it should be as an honor and sign of gratitude to the appointee for the services they provided to our city in the past and continue to be willing to provide, today.

And NO! I wouldn't consider myself having anywhere near the minimum it takes to be a Councilperson. But I sure know some great members of our city that would serve all of us quite well.