Council Acts to Allow Appointee to Fill Term

The La Canada Flintridge City Council on Tuesday moved to allow the person it will appoint to replace departing Mayor Thomas Curtis to serve the remaining three years of his term.

The council, on a 4-1 vote, tentatively amended an ordinance that limits an appointee to serve on the council until a special election can be held. The amendment would allow an appointee to complete the full term of the replaced council member. The special election to fill Curtis’ seat would have been held with the next regularly scheduled municipal election in April, 1986.

The council is expected to give final approval to the amendment at a special meeting to be held in the city offices, 1327 Foothill Blvd., at 7 p.m. Monday.

Job, Family Demands

Curtis recently announced that he will resign in April because of job and family demands. He was elected to his current four-year term last April. He has served on the council since 1980, when he was appointed to fill a vacated seat. Curtis has served as mayor, a yearlong position that rotates among council members, for the past year.

Council members cited a need for maintaining continuity on the council as the reason for making the change. Curtis was the only council member who opposed the ordinance change. He contended that, if the council should appoint someone who cannot then be elected by the voters, then the council “probably didn’t do a good job appointing that person and the person maybe shouldn’t be appointed for three years.”

The council also set a deadline of March 19 to accept applications from residents interested in replacing Curtis.