Calabasas City Council liaison positions created

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

Calabasas City Councilmem-bers last week became liaisons as part of newly elected City Councilman Barry Groveman’s initiatives that were recently approved to enhance confidence in the city, promote efficiency and reduce waste.

Groveman had compared the importance of liaisons to baseball teams in which catchers don’t play second base and first basemen don’t pitch. Councilmembers should, like a team, have specific positions, he said, to be more productive with their time and duties.

"I think it’s a good way of dividing responsibilities," said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison in an interview after the meeting. "Otherwise, each of us was either doing everything or nothing."

Councilmembers had previously made lists of their liaison preferences.

"Though it was impossible to accommodate every councilmem-ber’s wish list, we did our best to provide maximum correlation between requests and final selections," said Mayor James Bozajian in a letter to his peers before the meeting. "I’m pleased to note that we (Bozajian and Harrison) ultimately satisfied eight of the 10 preferences submitted. Four of five councilmembers were assigned to their first choices and four of five councilmembers were assigned to their second choices."

The council has designated liaisons or positions that are as follows:

Mayor James Bozajian: Intergovernmental relations; vice chair of open space issues and Calabasas landfill monitoring for hazardous waste, annexations

Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison: Budget and waste reduction

Councilman Barry Groveman: Traffic, safety and schools; major litigation, including the battle against Ahmanson Ranch development

Councilman Dennis Washburn: Major litigation, including the battle against Ahmanson Ranch development

Councilwoman Lesley Devine: Chair of open space issues, Calabasas landfill monitoring for hazardous waste and annexations

The council also decided (as part of Groveman’s initiatives) to assign councilmembers as heads of three task forces as follows:

Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison: Civic center project

Councilman Barry Groveman: Emergency response and preparedness

Councilman Dennis Washburn: Civic center project

Councilwoman Lesley Devine: Emergency response and preparedness

Harrison said the liaisons and task heads don’t control each respective category. "It doesn’t mean that the liaison is actually making council decisions," Harrison said. Each member of the council will gather information and keep updates from his/her topic and report back to the council, he said. The council will ultimately make all final decisions.

Liaison work has already begun, according to Harrison. As the liaison responsible for watching the budget, Harrison is already searching for an auditor to extensively examine to city’s financial records. See related story on page 11.