Conlosh removed from the City Council

Torus Tammer

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- A close to four-year run as a councilman came to

an end for Chuck Conlosh on Tuesday as he failed to appear for yet

another City Council meeting.

The absence meant that Conlosh, who had not attended council meetings

since Dec. 19, had exceeded the 60-day absentee limit permitted by state

law.

Under California code, a City Council member cannot be absent without

permission from all regular council meetings for 60 consecutive days from

the last regular meeting he attended. Failing to do this requires that

member be removed and filled just like any other vacancy.

Fountain Valley City Atty. Alan Burns said that official council

action on Conlosh’s replacement has not yet been taken but expects that

it will happen soon.

“At a future council meeting, the council will have to address how to

fill the vacancy,” Burns said.

Conlosh could not be reached for comment but his attorney Bradley Gage

says the former councilman plans to fight his removal from office.

Michael Gold, deputy director of the Orange County division of the

League of California Cities, said that since employed with the league, he

does not recall this particular code being enforced. Nevertheless, he

said, the language speaks for itself.

“The law is self-explanatory,” Gold said. “We do not advise cities.

This law is a self-activating law, and the council will proceed from

there.”

Conlosh was first elected to the City Council in 1996 and was

reelected in November contrary to negative publicity over his insistence

that he keep his loaded police-issued revolver with him at council

meetings.

He also created controversy in October for not filing campaign-finance

statements for 1997 and 1998. Conlosh said at the time the stories were

leaked to the news media in an attempt to influence the election.

In January, Conlosh resigned after 13 years with the Huntington Beach

Police Department and checked himself into College Hospital in Costa Mesa

for treatment.