Slow Week in City Halls; Officials at Convention

The League of California Cities annual conference begins here today with about 100 representatives from 14 South Bay cities joining several thousand officials from cities throughout the state.

The four-day conference, which includes dozens of workshops, seminars and several general sessions, will draw city council members, mayors, city managers, city clerks, city attorneys, police chiefs, commissioners and department heads from South Bay cities. Among local cities, only Rolling Hills is expected to be unrepresented.

Because it attracts so many local officials, the conference disrupts regular business at cities all over the state. In the South Bay, Carson, Gardena, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Redondo Beach and Torrance have canceled council meetings this week. Hermosa Beach has postponed its Tuesday meeting until Oct. 14.

The League of California Cities is an organization of 440 cities that lobbies in Sacramento and Washington on issues involving municipal government. It also provides educational programs to both elected and appointed city officials. There are 84 members from Los Angeles County.

Plotting Their Stance

The annual conference, which alternates between Northern California and Southern California, provides an opportunity for delegates from each city to formulate--and vote on--scores of resolutions that determine the league’s stance on issues for the coming year. While any city official may attend the sessions, each city--no matter how large or small--has just one voting delegate at meetings of the group’s General Assembly.

Among the 84 resolutions that will be discussed this week are several relating to emergency shelters for the homeless, cable television franchise fees, city and school programs to commemorate the 1987 bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, federal spending on waste-water treatment facilities, on-site treatment of hazardous waste materials and relief for undocumented workers.

This year’s General Resolutions Committee, a group of 50 officials that reviews resolutions before they are submitted to the entire conference, includes two South Bay city council members--Daniel K. Tabor of Inglewood and Nell Mirels of Rolling Hills Estates.

Manhattan Beach Councilman Gil Archuletta will moderate a seminar Monday entitled “The Once and Future Cities,” which will discuss how demographic changes can affect city operations and how cities might benefit from anticipated growth in the Pacific rim.

Mayors Attending

Torrance, Redondo Beach and El Segundo are expected to send the largest delegations of local elected officials, with all but one council member from each city registered to attend. South Bay mayors expected to participate are El Segundo’s Charles K. Armstrong, Gardena’s Donald L. Dear, Hermosa Beach’s Jack Wood, Lawndale’s Sarann Cruse, Lomita’s Charles Belba, Rancho Palos Verdes’ John McTaggart, Redondo Beach’s Barbara Doerr and Torrance’s Jim Armstrong.

Rolling Hills Mayor Tom Heinsheimer said the city, which belongs to the league but will send no delegate, will be briefed on conference activities by officials from other cities on the Peninsula. With only 2,000 residents, Rolling Hills leaves conferences outside the area to “the bigger cities with larger budgets,” he said. The conference registration fee is $95 per city official.

In addition to seminars and workshops on issues such as ethics for local officials, efforts to strengthen local economies and development of a cooperative effort between cities and school districts, the conference will include several speakers. Gov. George Deukmejian will speak at the closing session Wednesday.