First, it was Letitica Clark’s first official meeting of the city council as Mayor or Tustin. I think she did, and will continue to do, a fine job as Mayor for the coming year. I will say that she needs to take more command of the “room”, however. This isn’t her first rodeo and she knows how to lead. She just needs to do it a bit more decisively. Don’t let these guys intimidate you. You are in charge (ceremonially, of course).

That said, one item on the council agenda took up the most time and I’m left wondering why. You see it turns out that, what I thought was a regular procedure, was really just the good old boys on the council doing what they do best. And, there really is no regular procedure at all.

If you watched the city council meeting the other night, you know that I am talking about the selection process for upcoming vacancies for our various city commissions. In years past, I remember the council selecting an ad hoc committee to winnow the applicant pool to a realistic few and then presenting their recommendations to the full council. I just assumed it was a procedure set in stone. It isn’t.

So, for 30 minutes (of a 53 minute meeting), the city council wallowed around on Zoom kicking back and forth several suggestions from a staff report on how to proceed. In contrast, it took the 2018 city council, under Mayor Chuck Puckett, a little over 2 minutes to decide this process. In that time, Puckett also appointed two members to the ad hoc committee who would eventually present their findings to the council.

I realize that then Mayor Puckett has over 25 years of experience to guide him in how to handle what should be a routine matter. But the fact is, three of the current city council members -including the mayor- were on the council back then. Maybe they should’ve taken notes. Councilman Cooper’s desire to establish a participation trophy for all the applicants aside, the discussion took entirely too long.

No, no one wants their feelings hurt when they don’t get selected. Yes, everyone gets stressed over the interview and selection process. But, if you can’t handle the stress of an interview, then you certainly shouldn’t be handling city business. And all the millennial jokes aside, most of us can handle disappointment. We don’t need a feel good pat on the back for trying. So, what’s the problem? Why do we need to have a 30 minute discussion on how to proceed?

This is a process that should have been codified long ago. And it is certainly overdue now. Even back in 2017, then city councilman Al Murray called the ad hoc committee process, “the system we have in place.” As long as I have been writing this blog, the city has used the same process. And, while I may have had some trepidation in the past about how “the system” worked, it is a good system. As Councilman Lumbard remarked, interviewing 30 people is time consuming and stressful for everyone. Having a sub-committee to thin the applicant pool is the best method to deal with that.

It would seem the city council eventually agreed as the ad hoc committee (members of which Clark failed to nominate at the time) process will be used….again.

So, maybe the mayor, as one of her goals, could use this to have the process codified rather than having to have this debate every other year? I’m sure she could make use of our city attorney to write a properly worded citation to adopt.