Council Dilemma : Departing Zukowski Leaves Colleagues With Intriguing Options

THOUSAND OAKS —  It was still a week before her final meeting as a City Council member, but already eyes were watering, accolades were flying and presents were forthcoming for Jaime Zukowski.

Sal Terrusa, who often attends City Council hearings to complain about excessive traffic on his street, stepped up to the podium last week and offered his ode to Zukowski. Clearly choking up with emotion, he told the telegenic council member, who will serve her last day Tuesday before moving with her family to Colorado, that she had left her mark on Thousand Oaks.

“She has persevered over formidable and sometimes misguided forces in this city,” Terrusa said. “Don’t forget, Jaime, we will never forget you.”

Another speaker thanked Zukowski--who along with Councilwoman Elois Zeanah represented the slow-growth alliance known as “The Z’s”--for “taking the high road” in her political battles with Mayor Andy Fox and council members Mike Markey and Judy Lazar. The speaker then handed the surprised council member a bouquet.

Then came Ramaul Rush, who filed papers last week to run for City Council. He offered Zukowski a plaque outlining her nearly four-year term as council member and mayor.

“She will be missed,” Rush said.

Indeed, Zukowski will be missed by many in Thousand Oaks. But perhaps more swiftly than life, politics goes on. And the talk has already begun: What will Zukowski’s departure mean for the City Council?

There are several intriguing questions that council members must now consider as a result. Should the council simply move ahead with only four members until the November election, or would it be better to appoint an interim council member? If an interim council member is appointed, should that person bring in their own planning commissioner and remove Linda Parks, Zukowski’s appointee?

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And what happens with the oft-debated $75-million proposal to expand the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has been sidetracked by a yearlong council stalemate?

Mayor Andy Fox believes the City Council’s first mission is to decide whether it wants to continue as a four-member body until a new council member is elected. He believes the council should consider appointing an interim member on an “honorary basis,” choosing someone who has contributed much to the community but has decided not to run for council.

“I don’t know how the rest of the council feels about this, but it’s something we need to talk about,” Fox said. “We’ll soon have a vacancy, and we need to discuss if we want to fill it.”

He said Otto Stoll, a well-known local resident active in many community organizations, including work with the affordable-housing group Many Mansions, would be the person he would suggest.

“Because of health reasons, unfortunately, Otto Stoll is never going to run for City Council,” Fox said. “This would be a great honor for someone like him, to serve our community on the council, if only for a few months.”

Councilman Mike Markey said city leaders need to discuss whether to appoint an interim member.

“We’re talking four months, if you consider when the new council people will actually sit in,” Markey said. “We need to look at the issues coming up and decide, ‘Is it in the best interests of the community to work as a four-member council? Or should we appoint another person?’ ”

The problem, Markey said, is that Zukowski has not left the council with much time to make a choice. He said Zukowski, who did not file the necessary documents to resign until Thursday, did not even formally notify the council she was stepping down. He said he learned that from newspaper reports.

“I’m not happy with the way she handled this,” Markey said. “I read that she was leaving. That showed a lack of courtesy. And her resignation date does not give us much time to make decisions about what to do.” Although Zukowski’s last council meeting will be Tuesday--if an item on the controversial Dos Vientos development project is postponed, forcing a July 30 council meeting--her resignation will not officially take effect until Aug. 14.

If the City Council decides to appoint someone, it must do so within 30 days of Zukowski’s resignation, Markey said. Because the council does not meet in August, that could prove a challenge.

“It puts us in a tough position,” he said.

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Not according to Zeanah. She believes appointing someone to fill Zukowski’s seat is absolutely unnecessary considering the November election is so near.

“I don’t see any merit in that,” Zeanah said. “We’ve had council members sick longer than that. But if they do appoint someone, it should be Linda Parks. She’s the heir apparent to Jaime.”

Considering her frequent barbs at Fox, Markey and Lazar, Parks--the outspoken planning commissioner who successfully led an initiative to prevent development of open space without a public vote--is a longshot.

Also, Parks plans to run for City Council this fall, according to her political mentor, Zukowski.

“Linda Parks will run for the council,” Zukowski said. “Despite the difficult political climate, she will run, and I will be endorsing her. She brings tremendous optimism and intelligence to her work. She is strong.

“It will be a lot easier to leave, knowing that she is going to run,” Zukowski added. “She’s incorruptible, and she and I are of like mind when it comes to planning.”

For her part, Parks said she remains undecided. She said she is waiting to see whether any candidate champions the sort of issues--mainly involving growth--that interest her.

If the council appointed an interim council member, Parks could theoretically find herself kicked off the panel.

“Whoever was appointed would have to make the determination, ‘Do I want to appoint my own planning commissioner?,’ ” Markey said. “Then the rest of the council would vote on that person’s appointee.

“But I’m not sure I would remove Mrs. Parks,” he added. “By the time you appoint someone to the council, and they appoint someone to the Planning Commission, their term is over.”

One contentious project that could be resolved with a different council is expansion of the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant. Zeanah and Zukowski have continued to refuse to approve the expansion’s sewer-rate increases, which require a four-fifths vote.

The issue is now the subject of a $125,000 audit by Price Waterhouse, which will take several weeks to determine whether the expansion is needed and if it has to cost as much as public works officials believe. But if the council were to appoint an interim member, it could--if the appointee agreed the expansion was needed--raise the sewer rates and move on with the expansion.

Such scenarios worry Zeanah. She said she is realizing that politics without her only council ally could soon turn rough.

“As the lone ‘Z’ left, it’s going to be very difficult,” she said. “The mayor will gavel me out of order all the time. I’m really dreading Jaime leaving.”