Culver City Observer -

Council Selects Commission Members

The Rotunda Room at Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium was the unusual setting for Monday night’s City Council meeting. According to Assistant City Manager Martin Cole, the location was chosen in order to bring the Council closer to the community.

Certainly the community brought itself to this meeting, as the Council heard from community members and selected candidates for vacant seats on a number of City commissions.

“This is going to look a lot like sausage-making. You don’t really want to see it in action,” joked Mayor Andrew Weissman. He was referring to the process, whereby for each position, the candidates were to speak briefly, the Council members were to discuss them and give their choices, and the entire Council would then vote on the choices.

First up was a seat on the Planning Commission, to replace Marcus Tiggs, whose appointment is termed out. Six candidates had applied for this seat.

Except for Dana Sayles and Alejandro Lara, the other four candidates were all present and each spoke about his or her qualifications.

As Meghan Sahli-Wells remarked, it was “agonizing” to decide on one person, as all the candidates were very well-qualified. David Voncannon has served on the Advisory Council on Redevelopment and is known for regularly attending both City Council and Planning meetings; Kevin Lachoff has a background in real estate and has served on the Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board and on the Board of Directors of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce; Cliff Moser is an architect, which he noted is an asset to the Planning Board; Stephen Murray, a self-described “technical nerd,” has a background in sustainability; Dana Sayles holds a Master’s Degree in Planning and has served on numerous boards and organizations; and Alejandro Lara is also a real estate professional.

Jeff Cooper nominated Voncannon; Sahil-Wells chose Sayles, and Mehaul O’ Leary chose Lachoff. On the second full Council vote, Lachoff won the seat.

The next seat was for Parks, Recreation, and Community Services. There were four applicants; Crystal Alexander, Jeanne Min, and Scott Zeidman were not present. Rick Hudson, the incumbent, was present and spoke for his candidacy. As several Council members thought Hudson had done “a fine job” for the last four years, he won the reappointment easily.

Likewise, the one seat available on the Civil Service Commission, which had been held for the last four years by Richard Ochoa, was awarded again to Ochoa. The other applicants were Miguel Ramirez and Deborah Wallace, both of whom spoke of their interest and abilities.

The seat available on the Cultural Affairs Commission had been made available because Ronnie Jayne was termed out. Of the four applicants, Deborah Wallace, who had applied for three different commissions, removed herself. David H. Young was not present. The choice seemed to be between Regina Klein, a musician with a background in fundraising, and John B. Williams, an actor, musician, poet, and traveler.

Both candidates showed a passion for the arts that made the Council want to favor them. However, Klein’s fundraising skills made her the top choice.

For the Disability Advisory Committee, four seats were up for grabs but there were three applicants: Barbara Effros Schwarz, Alexander Lee, and Robert Montgomery. They all received appointments, as well as last-minute applicant Rhonda Wolf, who had applied for Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board but decided that the Disability Committee was a better choice. (Applicants, once chosen for a commission or board, cannot serve on more than one board).

Cliff Moser, having not been chosen for the Planning Board, offered to step in for the third of three seats available on the Committee on Homelessness, for which applicants Ira Diamond and Deborah Wallace were also chosen.

Finally there was the Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board. This body was of some concern to the Council because it has been known to meet very seldom (it is supposed to meet quarterly and has actually met very few times in the last five years). The Council thought there should be a discussion about the future of the Landlord-Tenant Board.

With Culver City lacking a rent control law, the Landlord-Tenant Board would seem to be necessary but the infrequency with which its meetings have been held raises some questions about its purpose.

In the meantime, the Council needed to appoint a Tenant Representative. The only applicant, Seth Weiner, was present at the meeting and spoke, describing himself as a lawyer with mediation experience. He was selected to be Tenant Rep and it was suggested by Cooper and agreed upon by the City, that Weiner’s mediation experience would save the City the 30 hours of training, at $625 an hour, of new appointees to the Landlord-Tenant Board are required to have.