LA PALMA : ‘Family of the Year’ Contest Reinstated
After much haggling, the La Palma City Council has voted, 4-1, to restore the city’s “Family of the Year” competition.
The dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Larry A. Herman. “I still feel this program is inappropriate for our city,” Herman said, adding that a private organization, not the city government, should run the program.
Others on the council also said they had some misgivings about reinstating the competition, which was dropped in 1993 because of a tight city budget. But the council majority ultimately voted Tuesday night for a compromise that reinstates the program on a trial basis.
The council said the $250 cost of the program must be entirely supported by donations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had responded in a letter last month to a council challenge seeking a sponsor to underwrite the program. It offered to provide sponsorship for the next 10 years.
The council, however, declined to authorize a 10-year-reinstatement of the competition. Instead the compromise motion said that “Family of the Year” would come back for a one-year trial. If the program succeeds and does not overrun its budget, it might be extended.
The program will be supervised by the city’s Cultural and Beautification Committee, which has urged the council to restore it. City government staff estimated that $250 will pay for all costs.
“Family of the Year” is a contest in which families are nominated for the honor and a winner ultimately picked by judges.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
