Going into last Monday night’s City Council meeting, the Whether Forecast — whether there would be fallout from the resignation last month of the first Animal Services Officer — was unstintingly clear. It was a leadpipe cinch.
The Council’s two eager protagonists could not wait. They were committed to racing at fire-engine speed. They did everything but stamp this action: Emergency.
They were all het up over it although scarcely anyone else in the room was — and that has been the onesided scenario for this controversial topic for years.
The scent of City Manager Mark Scott’s Invocation still was wafting across Council Chambers when, first, Councilman Chris Armenta and then Councilman Gary Silbiger aggressively launched their anticipated hardnosed campaign, which, shortly, began to resemble a plate of runny-eyed scrambled eggs.
What followed during the next 75 minutes was a noisy exercise in political and strategic crossed wires — Messrs. Armenta and Silbiger pulling mightily in one direction, the genteel Mr. Scott just as firmly in the opposite way.
The Councilmen’s twin objectives: Activate the Council’s Animal Services Officer Sub-Committee as soon as possible — by breakfast? — to accelerate the officer replacement process. They said that Culver City, which had relied exclusively on the County agency to provide animal services until last year, should not rest until a successor was named to succeed a woman who lasted merely three months.
One of the few light moments entered the increasingly brisk dialogue when Mr. Scott noted that the logical choice as the next officer was, alas, pregnant. “As soon as she was hired,” said the City Manager, “she would go on maternity leave.”
This did not deter the determined proponents of choosing the new officer with alacrity.
Neither Mr. Silbiger nor Mr. Armenta responded to the City Manager’s updated news.
The Council meeting itself soon dissolved into a bulgy-faced ping-pong match, back and forth, each side, with tightening sternness, scoring its oblivious points.
Nudging aside Robert’s Rules of Order and several other applicable playbooks, the two Councilmen fought fiercely to quickly validate and activate their arcane two-man huddle while the City Manager tried, diplomatically, to tell them the rules have changed.
The subject of Animal Services Officer was not on the agenda, which, by law, should have severely reduced the ensuing debate that became protracted
Time for Changes
It is a new day at City Hall, the City Manager said.
There not only is a new sheriff in town, he is much closer to resembling Gary Cooper than was his predecessor, old-folks Jerry Fulwood.
Adroitly, the suave Mr. Scott tried to tell them that, under a City Manager-form of government, Council subcommittees were virtually outdated. They were to City Hall what horses were to autmobiles a century ago.
Just as surely as it was not being acknowledged on the dais, this dispute, which bookended the short meeting, was an old-fashioned turf war, which never goes out of style.
The City Manager patiently tried to explain that the authority vested in him was broader and different from the powers held by Mr. Fulwood, whose title was Chief Administrative Officer.
Somewhere during the strongly jumbled mix, Mayor Andy Weissman noted that there are more than 40 Council-controlled subcommittees, which is about 40 more than may survive after a discussion next Monday night. The format for next Monday’s 7 o’clock Council meeting, called a “study session,” remained undefined today as did the precise contents of the agenda.
Will the survival chances or the authority of the Animal Services Officer be a focal point of the meeting?
Or will Mr. Scott be granted his wish that the entire notion of Council subcommittes be evaluated, and either greatly shrunk or eviscerated.
Mr. Silbiger and Mr. Armenta were absolutely insistent that renewed life be breathed into the subcommittee they manned a year ago when the first Animal Services Officer was chosen after about seven years of resistance by various City Councils. The Council vote last year was a slim 3 to 2 to experimentally try an Animal Services Officer program, under the umbrella of the Police Dept., for two years as a pilot program.
The First Word
Swift as the two Council members were to inject the subject into Monday’s skinny agenda, they were not the first to introduce the sore topic, which has been a passionate cause for an apparently narrow niche of the community.
Deborah Weinrauch is director of Friends of Culver City Animals. She was a major force in originally enlisting Mr. Silbiger’s influential help on the Council years ago, and a factor in last year’s maiden hiring.
She was the first member of the public to speak.
Ms. Weinrauch read a prepared statement:
“Residents of Culver City are aware of the recent resignation of our Animal Services Officer, Stephanie Yarbro. Since its beginning, our Animal Services Program has received ongoing rave reviews by the public.
“The SPCA/LA shelter in Hawthorne also has done a great job with our lost, injured and homeless pets and wildlife.
“Culver City residents now are very concerned and waiting to see when our next Animal Services Officer will be hired so that our residents and animals will receive the excellent service we have come to expect from our city.
“We are also aware approximately 350 applicants applied for the position of Animal Services Officer in the past. We are anxiously waiting for the position to be filled in a short amount of time so that this program will continue to be a success.
“We are confident the next Animal Services Officer will be up to the challenges of creating a high quality local animal services program.
“We, all of us, are the voices of the helpless pets and wildlife that cannot speak for themselves.
“As such, members of Friends of Culver City Animals would be happy to involved in the selection of the next Asnimal Services Officer. We are here to offer our help in any way, to assist in cherrypicking just the rigght person, the sooner the better.”
However, when Ms. Yarbro resigned last month, Mr. Scott indicated her successor likely would be chosen by Police Chief Don Pedersen.
Is that still true?
