Wait to Fill City Council Seat, Say 2 Leaders

Two members of the Thousand Oaks City Council said Friday the seat vacated by departing Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski should not be filled until voters go to the polls in November.

On Tuesday, the four-member council is scheduled to discuss whether to appoint a fifth member to replace Zukowski, who resigned last month to move to Colorado.

Council members Judy Lazar and Mike Markey said appointing someone for three months was not necessary.

“I am not interested in appointing a new council member,” Lazar said. “I think it would be foolish. By the time they get acclimated to the council, it would be time for the election. It’s just not reasonable.”

When a vacancy occurs, the council has 30 days to either appoint someone or call a special election--if an election is not already scheduled.

Since Zukowski resigned Aug. 13, the council must choose between those two options at Tuesday’s meeting.

For an appointment to be confirmed, at least three council members would have to give their approval.

Mayor Andy Fox said the city would benefit from a five-member panel and that council members should at least consider the possibility of appointing a nonpartisan community member to the vacant seat.

“I think it is something that absolutely needs to be discussed by the council,” he said.

But Fox added that council members should refrain from suggesting appointees with a political agenda.

Just last month, Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said the council should either leave Zukowski’s seat open until after the election or name Planning Commissioner Linda Parks, Zukowski’s appointee to that panel.

Parks, who has often criticized the council majority led by Fox, is one of 10 candidates running for two council seats in the November election.

“It would be ridiculous to appoint someone who is a candidate,” Fox said. “If we can’t get past an individual council member’s political agenda there is no point having a discussion. If we can’t reach consensus we should leave the seat open.”

The council was faced with a vacancy two years ago.

After the November 1994 election, then-Councilman Frank Schillo resigned to take a seat on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

At the time, Lazar said she had recommended that the council appoint Markey, the third top vote-getter in that race to fill two council seats.

She said the appointment would have avoided the expense of the special election that the council eventually called--and that Markey ended up winning.

But with the election less than three months away, things are different now, she said.

The decision on whether to appoint someone to fill the vacancy could reach beyond the City Council.

Some critics of Parks’ vocal slow-growth stance have said that since she was appointed to the Planning Commission by Zukowski, she should also resign or be removed by the council.

Parks said Friday she had no intention of resigning.

“It really surprise me that they would think of replacing me,” she said. “You need to hear all the voices and all the opinions. I’m doing the exact job that I’ve been appointed to do.”

But Lazar said removing Parks is “certainly a possibility.”

“I have some reservations about the way Parks has been acting for the last several months,” she said. “The Planning Commission should be nonpolitical. It is not a policy-making body. And it isn’t within its purview to criticize the actions of the City Council. They [planning commissioners] serve at the will of the council.”

Fox and Markey said any discussion on the future of Parks’ seat on the commission is premature.

The council should first decide what to do with Zukowski’s seat, Fox said.

“If we appoint someone to the council, they would have the opportunity to appoint whoever they wanted [to the Planning Commission],” Fox added.

While Planning Commission members can be removed by a majority vote of the council, that action would first have to be placed on the council’s agenda.