Group Says Valley May Get an Interim Council Member : City Hall: Coalition says there is support to appoint a replacement for Zev Yaroslavsky for the seven months the 5th District will be without representation.

A coalition of San Fernando Valley residents and business leaders said Friday that the City Council may be willing to appoint an interim representative to replace departing Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky until a replacement is elected.

The recently formed Coalition for a Voting Representative for the Fifth District met outside Yaroslavky’s Sherman Oaks office to ask that the council appoint a voting representative during the seven months that the district will be without representation.

The group hung a large yellow sign on the door that read: “Vacant as of Dec. 5, 1994.”

As evidence that their campaign has begun to make an impact, members of the group noted that council President John Ferraro, who has adamantly opposed the idea of an appointed representative, has said recently he would support the appointment if it is favored by a council majority.

The coalition, made up of influential business and homeowners’ groups, also said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents nearby West Valley communities, has voiced her support for an interim representative. A Chick spokesman confirmed Friday that she backs the group’s goal.

“We are seeing more and more support as we show them this coalition of people who want representation,” said Fred Gaines, a member of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., one of several business and homeowners’ organizations that make up the group.

The coalition, however, has yet to offer names of any prospective appointees, saying only that they are drafting a list of criteria that an interim representative must meet. Most importantly, they said the representative cannot be a candidate for the vacant council seat.

Yaroslavsky, whose district stretches from quake-battered Sherman Oaks to Westwood, said he supports the appointment of a temporary replacement but admits it would be a difficult idea to sell to his council colleagues without an announced candidate.

“I think the council should listen to the will of the people,” he said.

Yaroslavsky leaves office Dec. 4 to become the newest county supervisor. Unless an interim representative is appointed, his council seat will remain vacant until a successor is elected in a special election in June.

City officials have thus far decided to leave the seat vacant, naming Ron Deaton, the city’s chief legislative analyst, to run the day-to-day operations of the district. Deaton, however, will not have a vote on matters before the council.

Since June, when Yaroslavsky won the supervisor’s seat left vacant by Ed Edelman, community leaders in the district, particularly in the Valley, have asked for the appointment of an interim representative who can vote at council meetings.

Members of the coalition said the need for a voting representative was heightened by the Northridge earthquake and the fear that the quake-damaged district will be neglected by the other 14 members of the City Council.

“We are trying to rebuild Sherman Oaks from a quake,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. “We need a leader to represent us.”

To buttress their argument, Gaines noted that during a recent meeting a South Los Angeles councilman persuaded the council to cut Valley communities out of some much-needed housing repair funds while Yaroslavsky and two other Valley council members were absent. The action was reversed later when the Valley representatives returned.

“It’s not a matter of being afraid it will happen,” he said. “It has happened.”

The influential Ferraro has vehemently opposed the appointment of an interim representative, saying Deaton has proven experience and knowledge to serve as caretaker of the district until a permanent council member is elected.

But in recent weeks, Ferraro appears to have softened his position, saying he would not object to a replacement as long as it is supported by a majority of the council.

In response to an Encino resident who asked about the possibility of making such an appointment, Ferraro sent out a letter Friday, saying, “The fact remains that if someone is successful in marshaling eight votes, that person will become an interim council member of the district.”