Council wants more say in appointing personnel
PALMDALE — The City Council will consider an ordinance today to amend the Palmdale Municipal Code and give City Council members more say in appointments to Boards and commissions.
Under current City code, the mayor is authorized to make all appointments to Boards, commissions, and committees with approval of the City Council. This does not apply to the Planning Commission or the Housing Authority. With the Planning Commission, four members are appointed by council district, the mayor appoints one “at-large” member. With the Housing Authority, the mayor appoints two tenant members.
Council members sought more input into the process, including the assurance that their council districts were represented. The Council held a public hearing on Feb. 16 on a proposed ordinance and tabled it for further discussion.
Under the proposed amendment, the City Council shall make all appointments to Boards, commissions, and committees of the City unless otherwise formed by resolution.
If the nomination by the mayor or council member is approved by a majority vote of the City Council, the nominating city council member may then proceed to appoint the person to the Board or commission
under consideration.
“Instead of going in every time and changing it, the council members will each have the ability to nominate one person, and then the mayor, depending on the Board size, will also get to nominate,” City Manager J.J. Murphy said during a Monday morning briefing.
The mayor will be able to nominate anywhere from one to four members, depending on the size of the Board. If it has five members, the mayor would be able to nominate one member. If the Board has seven members, the mayor will be able to nominate three members. The mayor would be able to nominate five members to a nine-member Board.
“I work really hard to try to respect what the other councilmembers want,” Mayor Steve Hofbauer said. “If they have somebody that they want to have on a Board or commission.”
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. It will be closed to in-person attendance due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting orders and direction from the state and Los Angeles County of Department of Public Health.
The agenda is available at https://cityofpalmdale. org/310/City-Council-Meetings
Members of the public may address the City Council regarding items listed or not listed on the printed agenda. Unless otherwise extended by a majority vote of the City Council, comments shall be limited to three minutes per speaker.
Interested persons may participate via Zoom webcast by going to the link https:// zoom.us/j/92449656374?pwd=MndPNm5US2tROGhoTFdtdzBFVk5PQT09
Participants may also join the Zoom meeting by dialing 669-900-9128, with the webinar ID 928 4975 3782 and passcode 734913.
The meeting will be broadcast live on Spectrum Channel 27. It is also available online at www.cityofpalmdale.org
For details contact the City Clerk’s office at 661267-5151 or email cityclerk@cityofpalmdale.org