ON THE AGENDA Here are some of...

ON THE AGENDA

Here are some of the items the council will consider tonight.

PLANNING COMMISSION APPOINTMENT

The departures of three members of the city’s five-member Planning

Commission led the group to cancel its Jan. 10 meeting for lack of a

quorum. The council is expected to appoint a new slate of planning

commissioners on Feb. 7, but some time-sensitive decisions will need

to be made before those appointments.

A few options are available to fill out the Planning Commission

roster in time for the commission’s Jan. 24 meeting, but the simplest

is probably to appoint an interim commissioner.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Mayor Allan Mansoor thinks temporarily filling a commission seat

is the most reasonable of the options, and some of other choices look

undesirable. For example, the council could take on Planning

Commission business itself, but that would require squeezing in a

separate meeting, and waiting until next month to act on commission

business would create the risk of certain applications being approved

by default.

But if council members name an interim commissioner, City Manager

Allan Roeder cautioned that picking any of the 21 people who applied

for seats on the commission could appear an unfair advantage when a

new slate of commissioners is chosen.

MAYOR’S TERM

When the council on Jan. 3 tapped Allan Mansoor to serve as mayor

in 2005, Councilman Gary Monahan proposed changing the mayor’s term

to two years. The council shortened it to one year about four years

ago, but Monahan thinks the longer term means a mayor has more time

to get things done after learning the job. The mayor’s main tasks are

to lead the council meetings and represent the city at events and in

dealing with other governments.

The suggested ordinance also would give a two-year term to the

mayor pro tem, an office currently filled by Monahan. The selection

of Monahan as mayor pro tem aggravated Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who

thinks Monahan’s 2 1/2 terms as mayor are sufficient, and someone

else should have a chance at the council’s leadership roles.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Mansoor thinks a two-year mayor’s term will bring more stability

to the city, and Monahan sees it as an opportunity for mayors to be

more effective. It’s unclear whether any other council members will

oppose the measure.

MEASURE M

FUNDING REQUEST

The council will decide whether to apply for more than $20 million

in funding from Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax, to

pay for road-improvement projects over the next five years. The

city’s public services director has said he doesn’t expect to get

funding for all the proposed work, which includes 25 pavement repair

and overlay projects, coordination of traffic lights on major streets

in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, and widening Newport Boulevard between

17th and 19th streets.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The funding request is on the consent calendar, which means it’s

likely to be approved without discussion. The Orange County

Transportation Authority, the body that doles out Measure M money,

must receive applications for funding by Jan. 24. This is likely to

be the transportation authority’s last significant round of grants

before the Measure M tax expires in 2011.