Marilyn Poe at tonight's Council Meeting

(Los Alamitos, 8/6/2012)  Both incumbents, an ex-Mayor, a Traffic Commissioner,  and a popular former member of the Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association have all pulled papers so far to run for the two Los Alamitos City Council seats up for election this November.  Papers must be returned by Friday.

Assuming they all return the paperwork, money, and signatures, here’s the lineup:

• Mayor pro tem Marilyn Poe
• Council Member Ken Stephens
• Former Mayor Dean Grose
• Traffic Commissioner Richard Murphy
• Former Rossmoor Community Services District Boasrd  Member Tom Poe.

At least one more candidate may be filing.

From what I can tell Tom Poe is not related to Marilyn.  I’m told that he had served on the R.C.S.D. board and was highly regarded.  I believe he was renting in Rossmoor and then bought in Los Alamitos.  He apparently is the Tom Poe who served as Chief of Staff for former Long Beach Ctiy Councilwoman Kell.  He has also served as the Assistant to the Director of Governmental Affairs for the Port of Long Beach.   So he knows a lot about city government.

Richard Murphy recently was appointed to the Traffic Commission and has been a long-time Council observer who cares deeply about Los Alamitos.  I don’t always agree with him, but I’ve found him to be thoughtful and independent.  [ad]

Pulling papers is not the same as turning them in,   (Remember George Briggeman himself pulled papers two years ago!)   It’s good to see two new faces caring enough about Los Alamitos to get involved at this level. [ad]

Frankly, although I often disagree with him, it’s nice to see Dean Grose willing to run against two of his former allies, but I think it’s time for a couple completely new faces on the Council.

Faces that will actually show up for meetings!  (See “Edgar, Poe, & Stephens no-shows at tonight’s Council Meeting.”)

In the interest of informing our voters and encouraging discussion LetsFixLosAl will be happy to publish any information about goals, vision, etc. submitted by any of the candiates, either directly in a comment or via the “contact us” button as a free standing post.

One citizen was "Surprised that Marilyn Poe, Troy Edgar, and Ken Stephens didn't show up to do what they were elected to do" at tonight's City Council Meeting

(Los Alamitos, 8/6/2012)  What if they called a Council Meeting, but the Mayor, Mayor pro tem, and one more Council Member didn’t show up?

Tonight we found out:

Everybody goes home.

No roll is called, because there is no quorum.

The people’s business isn’t addressed, because there was no quorum.

The citizens who showed up to express their views on the important agenda item do not have the opportunity to do so, because there was no quorum.

Possible additional litigation is not avoided, because there was no quorum.

Empty seats at tonight's meeting: Our Council Members get their salary whether they show up or not.

Of course, if you’re one of the members who didn’t show up, who also happen to be running for re-election or election to the Assembly this November, you might have good reasons for not showing up:

You free up more time to campaign.

You avoid having to  address an important but controversial issue.

Rather than the Council making a decision, you get to default to the opinion of the City Attorney who got us into this mess in the first place.

You get another opportunity to “stick it” to the Council minority members and the thousands of citizens who voted for them, without even having to show up.

That’s what happened tonight.

Your tax dollars at work.

Or not.

If time permits, I may get more up later, but hopefully some of the others in the audience will be able to report for themselves.

Click here for the posted Agenda and Agenda Report along some discussion of the  City Attorney’s approach to the topic.