Avila Appointed to Fill City Council Seat

School board member Maria Avila, who narrowly missed winning a City Council seat in the April 14 election, was appointed last week to fill a council vacancy.

Avila, 66, was appointed to the two years remaining in the four-year council term of Patricia Wallach, who was elected mayor on April 14.

Avila’s appointment by the council came after a futile parliamentary maneuver by Wallach, who single-handedly tried to keep the school board member off the council last week.

Two weeks ago, the council decided to open the selection process to nominations from the community rather than summarily appoint Avila, who finished third among six candidates on the April ballot--96 votes behind winning candidate Ernest Gutierrez.

Besides Avila, nine others applied for the appointment.

At Tuesday’s meeting, after nearly two hours of speeches by the applicants, Councilman Gutierrez made a motion to appoint Avila. Wallach ruled the motion out of order because the council hadn’t decided on the method to be used in selecting from among the 10 candidates. Then, one by one, the mayor nominated each of the other nine applicants.

But no council members seconded her nominations, and she finally yielded to Gutierrez, who again nominated Avila. Councilmen Jack Thurston and Tom Millett said they joined Gutierrez in voting for Avila because she was the electorate’s choice.

The selection process irked applicant Art Platten, who stormed out of the council chambers muttering, “The fix was in.”

The mayor, explaining why she opposed Avila, said: “I’ve got nothing personal against Mrs. Avila but I’ve seen her endanger children’s lives by not moving a meeting.”

Wallach said her complaint stems from a crowded Mountain View Elementary School Board meeting, attended by children as well as adults, that took place earlier this year. She said she believes that Avila, who chaired the meeting, was negligent in not moving the meeting to a larger room.

The mayor also criticized Avila for voting to spend $1.3 million for a new school district administration building during tough financial times.

Later, she also cited Avila’s censure by the school board, which arose from a January school board meeting at which Avila addressed more than 300 angry parents while the rest of the board adjourned to closed session to discuss personnel matters. The parents were upset over rumors of wholesale teacher firings. The board, believing that Avila incited the crowd, voted March 5 to censure her.

“I am always swimming upstream,” Avila said after Tuesday’s meeting, referring to her school board troubles. “I don’t know how to swim with the current.”

But she added, “I’m a team player. I may not do what you want me to do all the time, but if the consensus on the council is a 3-1 vote . . . I’ll go along with them. I can change my mind.”

Avila said she wants to keep her seat on the school board until the school year ends in June.

“I’d like to be there as an example of motivation for the young ladies during graduation,” Avila said Thursday.

The newly appointed council member asked for advice from the county counsel’s office and from the El Monte city attorney about whether she legally can hold both positions until June without a conflict of interest. Avila said she will probably receive an answer this week.