Glendale Ca Government Officials

It was after midnight of the last night of his 32 years in the state Legislature, but even as the clock was running down, Newt Russell had not run out of questions. Oblivious to the antsy legislators milling about awaiting their getaway, the veteran senator from Glendale rose and posed a query that was incomprehensible to anyone who had not read the fine print of the matter at hand. It was a quintessential Newt Russell moment.

A petition to recall Glendale Mayor Gus Gomez over his decision to lower the American flag to half-staff in memory of Armenian genocide has been tossed out on a technicality, officials said Thursday. The notice of intent to petition violates the state elections code because it does not direct signers to write in their business or residential addresses, said City Clerk Doris Twedt. Instead, it tells them to enter the address listed on their voter registration form.

A petition to recall Glendale Mayor Gus Gomez over his decision to lower the American flag to half-staff in memory of Armenian genocide has been tossed out on a technicality, officials said Thursday. The notice of intent to petition violates the state elections code because it does not direct signers to write in their business or residential addresses, said City Clerk Doris Twedt. Instead, it tells them to enter the address listed on their voter registration form.

A petition to recall Glendale Mayor Gus Gomez over his decision to lower the U.S. flag to half-staff in memory of the Armenian genocide has been tossed out on a technicality, officials said Thursday. The notice of intent to petition violates the state elections code because it does not direct signers to write in their business or residential addresses, said City Clerk Doris Twedt. Instead, it tells them to enter the address listed on their voter registration form.

After hearing testimony from dozens of speakers condemning the aerial spraying of malathion, the Glendale City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday calling for a moratorium on use of the pesticide in the area. In doing so, Glendale joined half a dozen cities in Los Angeles and Orange counties that have asked for an end to spraying of the pesticide until more research is done into its effects on humans and the environment.

A Glendale man has been arrested for allegedly threatening three Glendale City Council members and a county supervisor. William Childs Sanford, 49, was arrested without incident as he sat in a Glendale City Council meeting Tuesday, police said. He is accused of making bomb threats against Mayor Ginger Bremberg, Councilman Jerold Milner, Glendale Municipal Court Commissioner Daniel Calabro and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

The controversy over Glendale Municipal Court Commissioner Daniel F. Calabro took a new turn Friday as spokesmen for two civil rights groups publicly deplored his use of the word "nigger" from the bench and said he should be banned from hearing criminal cases, pending an investigation by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. "I find the use of this term personally offensive and insulting both to me and my people," John W.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner refused an offer to meet privately with with Glendale Court Commissioner Daniel F. Calabro, whom Reiner chastised for using the word "nigger" in court. "I don't think there is any particular reason as to why," said Schuyler Sprowles, director of public affairs for Reiner. "He respectfully declined the offer at this time.

Freshman Glendale City Councilman Sheldon Baker was unanimously elected Tuesday as chairman of the city's Community Housing Authority, which distributes more than $6.2 million annually in federal rent subsidies to 1,100 low-income families. Baker, a Los Angeles attorney who previously served 16 years on the boards of the Glendale school and community college districts, was one of three new council members elected April 6.

The City Council on Monday night unanimously elected Councilman Larry Zarian mayor for the next year. This will be the fourth term as mayor for Zarian, who has been a council member for 14 years. Under the city charter, the five-member council chooses one of its members as mayor each year. In a chamber overflowing with spectators, outgoing Mayor Sheldon S.

When three members are sworn in next week, the five-member Glendale City Council will include two Latinos and two Armenian Americans--reflecting the demographic changes that have swept Los Angeles County's third-largest city in recent years. But more significantly, the three--newly elected members Frank Quintero and Bob Yousefian and reelected incumbent Dave Weaver--represent a new breed of city leaders who owe much of their success to homeowner groups.

"I think it will improve bus service in the Valley without increasing cost. I believe it can be done. And this is what has motivated all of us who have been involved. We want to do a better job for the public than what is happening today. We believe the transit zone will do that."

In a move that could alter the balance of power in City Hall, Mayor Eileen Givens said Monday that when her term expires in April she will not seek reelection so she can spend more time with her family. "I've had time to learn more about our city and its people and time to accomplish many goals, and now it's time for me to get my life back into better balance," she said. "Tops on my list is to be able to spend more time with my family."

Glendale's finance director, under fire for using profane language in the office and exhibiting abusive behavior, agreed to resign Tuesday in exchange for a $90,000 cash settlement, a deal struck during a month of closed-door negotiating sessions with the City Council and top-level city officials.

Brian Butler has long spoken his mind: to Glendale city officials curious about a financial issue, to reporters clamoring for budget figures and to his friends. But his salty vernacular could cost the city finance director his job. Butler, 51, has been on paid administrative leave since January and will soon face the city's Civil Service Commission because, according to sources in and out of city government, his way with X-rated words rubbed people inside City Hall the wrong way.

Saying he is needed more in Glendale than in Sacramento, Mayor Larry Zarian announced Tuesday that he will not challenge Assemblyman Scott Wildman in the November elections. Zarian, who has been pressed by state Republican Party leaders to seek the Republican nomination, was seen as having the best chance of unseating Wildman and retaking the 43rd Assembly District for Republicans.

"I think it will improve bus service in the Valley without increasing cost. I believe it can be done. And this is what has motivated all of us who have been involved. We want to do a better job for the public than what is happening today. We believe the transit zone will do that."

Saying he is needed more in Glendale than in Sacramento, Mayor Larry Zarian announced Tuesday that he will not challenge Assemblyman Scott Wildman in the November elections. Zarian, who has been pressed by state Republican Party leaders to seek the Republican nomination, was seen as having the best chance of unseating Wildman and retaking the 43rd Assembly District for Republicans.

The City Council unanimously appointed Jim Starbird--who has been serving as West Covina's city manager--as Glendale's new city manager on Tuesday. "Everyone we spoke with praised his leadership, financial management skills and more," Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian said. Starbird, West Covina's city manger since 1991, applied for the $159,000 Glendale postion left vacant in September when David H. Ramsay was hired for the city manager's post in Kirkland, Wash.

Four months after receiving two complaints from city employees about Finance Director Brian Butler's "performance and behavior," city officials have placed Glendale's top appointed financial officer on paid leave, officials said Tuesday. The investigation, expected to last at least 30 days and probably more, has uncovered no financial wrongdoing, officials said.