4/23/19 City Council Meeting Highlights – Procedures for Appointment

  • April 24, 2019, 8:46 am America/Los_Angeles

Present:
Mayor Christina Shea
Melissa Fox
Farrah Khan
Anthony Kuo

Filling Vacant City Council Seat

City Clerk, Molly McLaughlin Perry presented the various process options for filling the vacant city council seat.

The selection process, for the most part, will take place in public at the May 14, 2019 city council meeting. Irvine residents have the opportunity to participate in the selection process by:

  1. Applying for appointment to the vacant city council seat. The applications must be received by May 3, 2019.
  2. Attending the May 14, 2019 city council meeting where applicants will have 15 mins. each to give presentations and answer questions from city council members. The public will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the candidates during public comment.

Mayor Pro Tem Kuo, after the meeting, stated that members of the public could submit their suggested questions by e-mail to city council members for consideration.

Appointment Process

The City Council voted on the following procedures for appointment (Passed 3-1 with Fox dissenting).

  1. Each city council member will select up to 4 candidates.
  2. The City Clerk will then, publicly and randomly, pick from the list of candidates to assign their interview time.
  3. Each applicant will have 15 minutes to give a public presentation and to answer questions from City Council members. Phone interviews will be available and will be public. Only the interviewee will be allowed in Chambers while the other candidates will be asked to wait outside. The public will be allowed to sit in on all the interviews.
  4. Each City Council member will then select 1-3 applicants for a total of 4 to 12 applicants.
  5. The City Council members will then vote on the applicants, each getting one vote. A candidate must receive 3 votes to be appointed.

If a majority vote is not achieved, then at the May 28, 2019 city council meeting the selection process will be attempted for the second time.

If no selection is made by June 3, 2019, a special election will be called.

Other Agenda Items

  1. OCTA announced a transit study, presented by Eric Carlson, which proposes establishing a Bristol Corridor bus route system that would go from Santa Ana City College at Bristol and 17th, to Santa Ana Civic Center, to John Wayne Airport, to IBC, and to UCI.
  2. The City Council approved a zoning ordinance amendment that would provide application procedures for small utility wireless facilities that set forth aesthetic design and pole location requirements. Stacy Tran presented the staff report.
  3. The City Council approved the Animal Care Center improvement proposal presented by Jim Houlihan and Mike Cribbin. The proposed plans include veterinary care facilities, expansion of retail space, a designated area for pet adoption and surrender. The proposal includes moving the dog park from the Animal Care Center to the Oak Creek Community Park.
  4. City Council members approved the Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships 2019-2020 Action Plan funding recommendations. Steven Holtz and Charles Kovac presented the plan. A number of different non-profits which provide public services and programs received funding.  The Council also approved structuring a grant program ($2,000 max per applicant)  for home improvements for the One Irvine Program -Energy Efficiency Grants.
  5. City Council approved the final design of the ITRAC Irvine Civic Center and Transportation Center which is a Traffic Research and Emergency Operation Management Center. The project presentation was made by Jim Houlihan.