Four months before the 2012 municipal elections, an incumbent councilman is pondering a decision that has the potential to alter his political career as well as the dynamics of Culver City’s governing body.
Vice Mayor Scott Malsin, currently Culver City’s longest-serving officeholder, is considering tendering his resignation this month due to a change in healthcare benefit plan guidelines that will go into affect next year.
Earlier this year, Culver City’s city council implemented a variety of changes to city employee’s medical and pension benefits. Late last month, Malsin cited the need to consider how the new plan would affect his family in a public letter and he has been mulling over for several months whether to retire by Dec. 31 in order to preserve his current benefit plan.
Before he announces what he plans to do, Malsin said there are other considerations that will factor into his final decision.
“If I resign, I want to make sure that the city can put the open seat on the April 10, 2012 ballot rather than being forced to hold a costly special election. I have been working closely with our staff to determine how best to do so,” the vice mayor told the News before leaving town for the Thanksgiving holiday. “I do not want my personal decisions to be a cost or burden to the city.”
Asst. City Manager Martin Cole, who also serves as Culver City’s city clerk and chief election officer, said Malsin could step down in December and seek office again in 2012 under the city’s charter.
“Should Mr. Malsin resign his seat prior to serving ‘a partial term in excess of two years,’ then the partial term is not considered a full term,” Cole told the News. According to the charter, which was revised in 2006, “No person shall serve more than two consecutive full terms [on the City Council].”
“Mr. Malsin will not have served more than two consecutive full terms, and therefore, he would be eligible to run for City Council in the April 2012 election,” the assistant city manager noted.
Section 604 of the charter also allows the council to appoint a successor to Malsin’s seat if he does step down. “The City Council, by a vote of at least three of its members, may appoint a replacement to fill any vacancy on the City Council,” the charter states. “Such appointee shall hold office until a successor is elected and certified.”
Section 604, Paragraph 2 of the city charter additionally states, “If a vacancy is not filled by appointment within 30 days after its occurrence, the City Council shall immediately call a special election to fill the vacancy.”
Cole said the council has the option of appointing a replacement to the vacant seat but is not obligated by the charter to do so.
“If the City Council chooses not to appoint a replacement, then the city charter requires the City Council to call a special election to fill the vacancy. However, the city charter also states that no special election shall be called if it cannot be held at least 180 days before the next general municipal election,” he said. “Since we are now within that 180-day period, so long as the general requirements of the elections code can be met, a special election cannot be called.
“Should the City Council determine to appoint a replacement, then that replacement ‘shall hold office until a successor is elected and certified,’” Cole added.
Malsin, who was elected in 2006 and reelected in 2010 after five years on the city Planning Commission, said he recognizes that some might wonder why elected officials – in Culver City and elsewhere – have called upon municipal, county and state employees to take part in “shared sacrifice” due to greater financial concerns and now see that he might choose to leave office in order to keep a more attractive pension plan.
“As a councilman, I spend about 25-30 hours a week on city business for take-home pay of about $100 a week,” Malsin countered. “Being able to count on our medical coverage has made it possible for me to serve.
“Culver City council members themselves already sacrifice many hours of paid work to serve their city. Those hours translate into reduced income for our families, but the return is the satisfaction of making a difference.”
Cynthia Gibson, the president of Culver City-based CKG Communications, a public relations firm, said Malsin’s predicament is indicative of a continuing national debate on healthcare, public employee benefits and even income distribution.
“We see so many of the 99% in the Occupy Wall Street movement who talk about not having access to healthcare, and I think [Malsin’s dilemma] really says a lot about the state of public benefits,” Gibson said.
If the vice mayor does choose to resign and seek office again in April, what seat he would occupy would depend on how well he did in the election.
“If he were to run and receive the highest, second-highest or third-highest number of votes, then he would serve a four-year term,” Cole explained. “If he were to run and receive the least-highest number of votes [but receive at least the fourth-highest number of votes if there are more than four candidates], then he would serve the unexpired term of the seat he previously vacated.”
The term of office for that seat – which Malsin occupies – ends in April 2014. Ironically, if the vice mayor decides to run in April, he could potentially return to his old seat and fill out his current term in office.
The situation that Malsin finds himself in is not one that occurs frequently in California, Cole said.
“Mid-term vacancies on city councils statewide are an uncommon occurrence,” he said. “Filling such vacancies involve the requirements of both the city charter and the elections code of the state of California.
“The actual process used will depend on actions that have not yet [and may not] occur,” Cole continued. “Once actions have been conclusively and irrevocably taken, city staff will advise the City Council on the requirements of the city charter and the elections code.”
Gibson believes that healthcare benefits and how politicians react to them will resonate with much of the public in the next election cycle and not just in the presidential race.
“I think that it will be one of the hot button issues in 2012, even at the state and local level,” she predicted.
Malsin said whatever decision he ultimately makes will be a difficult one, and the financial implications and considerations are unavoidable.
“In today’s economy, there are no easy answers, only tough questions,” he concluded. “I have a tremendous passion for public service, but I am a father and husband and need to do what is right for my family.”
