Wanted: Someone to Fill Pesky City Council Opening

Want to exercise a little power? Need some extra cash? In a quirky twist of fate -- aided by 31 days in October and attention to detail by Huntington Beach’s founding fathers -- the City Council is seeking applicants to fill a short-term vacancy within its ranks.

Very short.

At most, the appointed council member will serve for two meetings and a few brief moments of a third -- until the successor is sworn in.

“It seems silly to someone looking in,” Mayor Cathy Green said. “But that’s the way it is.”

Former council member Pam Julien Houchen resigned abruptly Sept. 1, amid news that she was being investigated by the Police Department and district attorney’s office for allegedly converting apartments into condominiums illegally.

She quit 61 days before the Nov. 2 election in which her successor would be chosen..

According to the city’s charter, a new council member must be appointed or elected within 60 days of the vacancy.

“Had she resigned a day later, we wouldn’t even have to go through this,” said council member Connie Boardman. “We either have to appoint someone by law or call a special election. The bizarre thing about the special election is that it would be held in March.”

March isn’t soon enough.

“There’s no way around it,” Green said. “You can count and recount those days and it still comes out the same.”

City attorney Jennifer McGrath has pondered the dilemma too.

Noting that October has 31 days, McGrath said, “It just happens to be how the math works it. I’m sure that was not on [Houchen’s] mind when she resigned.”

And when city leaders drafted Sec. 312 of the charter, McGrath said, they probably weren’t anticipating a resignation 61 days before an election.

So for the last couple of weeks, guided by the charter, City Hall has been soliciting applications, due by noon today. As of Tuesday afternoon, seven people had applied.

The short-termer could be appointed as soon as the Oct. 18 meeting, or as late as the Nov. 1 meeting, before having to leave the post when the election winners are seated Dec. 6.

The pay isn’t great: $175 a month plus expenses. There’s a huge stack of reading to prepare for every council meeting. And the job calls for some amount of stage presence, given that the meetings are held in public and broadcast on the city’s cable channel.

“It’s a lot to ask someone to step in and read [the materials],” Green said.

“And how to just even function up on the dais, what lights to push, which button to push for the microphone.”

Some council members said they would not support someone already running for Houchen’s seat. And they prefer someone with a little council experience.

They might be in luck. At least three former Huntington Beach council members applied, including former Mayor Grace Winchell, who acknowledged being a bit of a pinch-hitter.

After her eight-year term ended in 1994, she returned to city politics for 10 months in 2002 to fill the vacancy left when then-councilman Dave Garofalo resigned.

“It’s kind of a ridiculous situation they’ve been put into,” Winchell said.

“The last thing you want in the world is chaos and hoopla for two meetings. I’d just be happy to help them get through it.”