Los Angeles Daily News
Aug 19 2005
L.A. Council starts early on summer recess
Quorum of 10 not expected to attend today’s meeting
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles City Council may get an early start on its summer
recess, with today’s meeting expected to be canceled for lack of a
quorum.
With two vacancies on the 15-member council, it has become
increasingly difficult in recent weeks to get at least 10 members for
the quorum required to do business.
Today’s meeting would have been the last before the council’s annual
two-week recess, but four of the remaining 13 members did not expect
to attend.
Councilman Eric Garcetti might be the only one of the four off on
official city business, traveling to Armenia as part of the Sister
City program.
Councilmen Ed Reyes, Greig Smith and Jack Weiss all are off for an
early start of vacations or for undisclosed reasons.
“(Reyes) regrets it, but he had made plans that couldn’t be changed
and was previously excused,” spokesman Tony Perez said.
Smith also had received approval to be absent from the meeting, but
spokesman Mitch Englander would not say whether he would be away on
vacation or on city business.
Weiss spokeswoman Lisa Hansen said he was out of town and had been
given permission to miss the meeting several weeks ago.
Council President Alex Padilla, who is acting mayor while Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa is on a Hawaiian vacation with his family, said
he had expected problems getting a quorum with fewer council members.
“It’s one of those things,” Padilla said. “With a number of people
out of town, we were afraid this would happen. We had dealt with most
of the important issues before now. But it’s a constant problem to
make sure we have enough members present for any given meeting.”
Former Councilman Villaraigosa’s election as mayor left his council
seat vacant. Former Councilman Martin Ludlow left to become
secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Council members, who are each paid $143,838 a year, traditionally
take the two weeks before Labor Day as a recess, as well as two weeks
around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.