Matt Leslie

“Notice is hereby given that the City of Fullerton City Council / Successor Agency / Public Financing Authority closed session regularly scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. and regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. have been cancelled.

The next regularly scheduled City Council / Successor Agency / Public Financing Authority meeting will be July 17, 2012 beginning with a Closed Session at 5:00 p.m. and Regular Meeting at 6:30 p.m.”

So reads a press release from the City of Fullerton notifying residents that what was expected to be the final meeting attended by recently recalled city council members Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, and Pat McKinley would not happen at all. With the prior cancellation of the July 3 meeting because of the July 4 holiday, the Fullerton City Council is not officially scheduled to meet until July 17, seven weeks after the June 5 meeting that saw Mr. McKinley and Dr. Jones exiting the council chambers before the end of the meeting.

For a smooth transition of power the current council must meet to declare the results of the election on June 5, as certified by the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

“10263.  Upon the completion of the canvass and before installing the new officers, the governing body shall adopt a resolution reciting the fact of the election and the other matters that are enumerated in Section 10264. The governing body shall declare elected the persons for whom the highest number of votes were cast for each office.  …

(b) For a consolidated election, the governing body shall meet at its usual place of meeting no later than the next regularly scheduled city council meeting following presentation of the 28-day canvass of the returns, or at a special meeting called for this purpose, to declare the results and to install the newly elected officers.”

Suffice it to say that the old council needs to meet to officially declare the results of the recall election and pass the baton to the three newly elected council members who will replace them, just as they would after any regular November election in even numbered years. But, there has to be a quorum of council members in attendance to do it. Without at least one of the recalled council members the process cannot go forward in the expected way. If the early exit of Dr. Jones and Mr. McKinley from the June 5 meeting is any indication of their attitude toward this transition, then it should not surprise us if they are not inclined to attend such a meeting, even if it is clearly their civic duty as elected officials to do so.

City hall has reportedly scheduled a quick special meeting with just one of the recalled council members along with Mayor Sharon-Quirk Silva and Bruce Whitaker on the morning of Monday, July 2 to accomplish this transition. At press time (June 27, 8:00 a.m.) announcement of  such a meeting is unconfirmed and does not appear on the city’s website.