Norwalk Council Puts Off Appointment in Light of Possible Legal Challenge

Instead of swearing-in the man they agreed should be their newest colleague, city council members Tuesday put the appointment on hold for one week.

Faced with a possible legal challenge from The Los Angeles Times--which complained that the state’s open-government law was violated last week when the City Council unexpectedly named Luigi A. Vernola to replace Cecil N. Green--councilmen held a 25-minute closed-door meeting and then announced that they will vote on the replacement next Tuesday.

But council members left little doubt that Vernola, a 42-year-old gasoline station and auto shop owner, will still be their choice.

“I’ve got a little scoop for you,” Councilman Robert E. White told a reporter, “Vernola is in like a burglar.”

A popular planning commissioner, Vernola was appointed to the council last Thursday, less than 48 hours after Green won a special election in the 33rd state Senate District.

The council defended its action, saying it did not have time to notify the public because there was an urgent need to name a new member. With city budget hearings beginning soon, council members said they had to make a quick decision to give their new colleague a chance to learn the issues.

But Nancy Richman, a staff counsel for The Times, informed city officials before Tuesday’s meeting that the newspaper intended to file a formal complaint because the public should have been notified before last week’s meeting that the council intended to select a replacement.

Public Notice Required

California’s open-government law requires all elected bodies to give public notice of any action they plan to take, except if an emergency exists that requires immediate action or two-thirds of the governing body agrees to consider an item not on the agenda. The requirement for public notice was strengthened in amendments to the law in January. The agenda for last Thursday’s meeting made no mention of the appointment or the possibility it would be discussed.

Richman said Green’s victory in the state Senate race creating the council vacancy did not constitute an emergency. And it is unclear whether the council actually took a vote to add Vernola’s appointment to the agenda.

Even if there was a two-thirds vote to add the item, Richman said she believes the action would have violated the intent of the open-government law because of the far-reaching importance of naming a new council member in the city of nearly 90,000 people.

If the public is properly notified this week about the decision to name a new council member at next Tuesday’s meeting, Richman said, The Times would not pursue its complaint against the city.

Richman said it was the selection process, not the man chosen, that concerned the newspaper. “ . . . The appointment of a new council member by its very nature has important political implications well beyond the immediate action . . . They did not need to take such quick action. Waiting several more days would not have made much difference in how the city functions or does business,” she said.

J. Kenneth Brown, Norwalk city attorney, said he advised the council during its closed-door session Tuesday to delay Vernola’s appointment. Swearing Vernola in, Brown said, would have “cast a shadow” over any future actions by the council if the courts eventually overturned Vernola’s appointment.

“In view of the threat of a lawsuit . . . the action that seems the fairest to this community, this council and Mr. Vernola is to take no action and schedule it as a first order of business next Tuesday,” Brown told an overflow crowd at City Hall after Tuesday night’s executive session.

“The other option is to go ahead (make the appointment) and run the risk of a lawsuit,” he said, “ . . . and basically cloud actions of this City Council over the next 30, 60 or 90 days.”

When Vernola was named to replace Green a week ago, only the council, several city staff members and a handful of spectators were present.

At the meeting, Mayor Margaret I. (Peg) Nelson and Councilman Marcial (Rod) Rodriguez pushed for Vernola’s selection. Rodriguez said the council had to move quickly to fill the vacancy because of pressing city business--the budget, redevelopment and labor negotiations with employee groups--that need the attention of a full council.

“We could not afford to wait,” Rodriguez, a longtime friend of Vernola’s, said in an interview Monday. “We wanted to give the new council member as much time as possible to jump in and get familiar with the job . . . It was urgent.”

Nelson supported Rodriguez saying, “We were elected to make tough decisions . . . so we went ahead with it . . . recognizing that there might be some backlash.”

Council members White and Grace Napolitano eventually agreed to appoint Vernola, but not before Napolitano questioned whether the action was proper.

On Tuesday night, Napolitano scolded herself. “I shouldn’t have gone along with it, but because it was something I favored, I decided why not . . . ,” she said after the appointment was postponed. “Hey, we goofed. But I’d rather inconvenience a few people than have a whole city say we were trying to do something shady . . . Luigi will still get it.”

Vernola, a lifelong Norwalk resident, is married and has three children. He owns three Shell gasoline stations and Vernola’s Automotive in Norwalk, which he bought in the late 1970s from Green. He has been a member of the Planning Commission since April, 1982, and has managed all three of Rodriguez’s council campaigns.

Highly regarded by many city leaders, Vernola received in March the Norwalk-La Mirada PTA Founder’s Day Award for Community Service, the highest award given by local PTAs. Earlier this year, the City Council selected Vernola to receive the Cerritos College Foundation’s Citizen of the Year award.

“There are few people in this city as caring and committed as Luigi,” Napolitano said.

If appointed next Tuesday to the $622-a-month job, Vernola will serve until Nov. 3 when a special election will be held to fill the final 2 1/2 years of Green’s unexpired council term. Appearing unruffled by Tuesday’s unexpected turn of events, Vernola told the council and the large City Hall crowd that had come to wish him well, that he appreciated the support and “was honored to stand before you and call you all my friends.”

As he finished, he received a standing ovation that lasted nearly a minute.

The council’s move last week to appoint Vernola caught most people by surprise, even the city attorney. Green’s resignation from the council was not effective until Monday, when he was sworn in as a state senator in Sacramento. Normally, Brown said, councils wait until there is an official vacancy before taking action.

“Frankly, in 20-plus years of city government work this is the first time I can remember a council trying to fill a vacancy before there actually was one,” he said.

Because there are nearly three years left on Green’s term, the council decided Monday of last week to make an interim appointment and then hold a special election. White said, “It will not sit well with the City of Norwalk if we act a little like God and make an appointment for that long. It should be up to the people.”

At least one potential challenger for the seat, Herb Williams, said he was “disappointed” that the council did not take more time to consider other applicants. A Norwalk resident since the late 1950s, Williams said, “I thought they were going to take some names and discuss it . . . So much for that.” Like Vernola, Williams is a city planning commissioner and he described the new council appointee as a “good friend.” Williams, 56, said he probably will not run for the seat in November.

“I’m not sure I want to get into a councilmanic race with a friend,” said Williams, an English teacher at Montebello High School, who added that Vernola now has “a leg up on the field . . . He’s got a lot of support, and with this appointment he’ll have an extra edge.”

Rather than stage a separate election, the city opted to consolidate it with local school board elections in November. The move, according to Norwalk City Clerk Mary Paxon, will save the city about $10,000 to $15,000. She estimates the city’s bill for the November election will run about $20,000 to $22,000.

Paxon said the filing period for the council race will be July 13 to Aug. 7.

Green had been mayor pro tem, a position Rodriguez was named to fill Tuesday by the council.

In Sacramento, Green began his first week as a state senator after he was sworn in on Monday during a colorful ceremony. The Senate chamber was decorated with hundreds of green balloons, a trademark of the 63-year-old Norwalk Democrat. And green doughnuts were placed on each of the senators’ desk, a reminder that the Democrats gave away a dozen free doughnuts on election day in return for voters’ ballot stubs.

Several dozen Norwalk officials, including Napolitano, Rodriguez and White as well as Vernola and City Manager Richard Streng, attended Monday’s ceremony in Sacramento.