By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
DIAMOND BAR - Less than two weeks after Councilman Bob Zirbes passed away, the City Council will discuss how to fill his seat as a deadline fast approaches.
At tonight's meeting, the council is scheduled to consider whether to appoint a replacement, schedule a special election for November - or both.
The last day to decide is March 10, City Manager James DeStefano said. If the council misses the cutoff date, the special election will take place automatically.
Mayor Steve Tye said he believed a rapid appointment would be best. Other council members said they have yet to settle on an option.
An appointed council member could be asked to serve until the end of Zirbes' term, in November 2009, or only until a special election this November, DeStefano said.
The council could also schedule the Nov. 6 special election without appointing anyone and remain a four-person council until then, DeStefano said.
Anyone elected this year would serve until 2009, instead of taking on a full four-year term, according to a city staff report. The appointee must be selected by March 10, the report said.
"There is no requirement for the City Council to advertise the current vacancy (or) receive interest/applications from citizens," the report continued. "The City Council may simply select a citizen and appoint by majority vote."
That may be necessary, Tye said.
"We don't have the luxury of time," Tye said. "There's probably no time for applications ... (but) we have a lot of capable citizens that could do the job."
DeStefano and the council said that they already missed Zirbes, who passed away on Feb. 8 after a long battle with cancer.
However, because his priorities were shared by his colleagues, his absence is unlikely to affect the balance or focus of the council, they all said. Most of the group's votes are unanimous, they noted.
"Certainly his absence will create a void," said Councilwoman Carol Herrera. "But we didn't have very many split votes, because philosophically, we were pretty united in our vision."
One of his driving passions was to increase the city's limited open space by building a sports park, council members said. Finding space for more soccer and baseball fields was his top priority, but not his only one, Councilman Wen Chang said.
"He was very focused on neighborhood improvement and economic development, as well as sports facilities," Chang said.
The city will likely pursue the sports park idea, the council said, although no one proposed any concrete steps.
"The city is always looking for additional park space," Councilman Jack Tanaka said.
Herrera praised Zirbes' brainstorming abilities, saying his creative ways of finding funding - for instance, to help poorer families fix roofs or paint their houses - would be missed.
"He was one in a million," Tye said. "It's a terrible loss, not only to the council, but to the community as a whole."
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