BY BRIAN HEWS
September 10, 2019 ~ In a shocking turn of events, Monica Rodriguez, who was recently elected in November 2018, declared at tonight’s regular Hawaiian Gardens City Council meeting that she is resigning her seat, effective immediately.
Rodriguez declared that this “was her last council meeting” just before the Council adjourned into closed session.
“Due to personal reasons, I will be resigning from this position. Tonight will be my last city council meeting. I would like to thank those who supported me during the last election. Thank you.”
Mayor Myra Maravilla did not appear overly shocked, responding, “okay thank you, let us now adjourn to closed session.”
The Council has three options to fill Rodriguez’ seat: a majority appointment, a special election, or wait until the next general election.
A special election would cost the city over $75,000, an appointment is possible given that Mayor pro tem Jesse Alvarado and Councilman Luis Roa are in lock-step with Mayor Maravilla on every vote.
Texts into Maravilla, Alvarado, Rodriguez and Trimble went unreturned.
Oh man, she seemed like such a sweet girl. Either they had it planned from the beginning (she was a placeholder for someone else) or she had her own personal reasons. These things happen because life happens, hopefully it wasn’t for nefarious reasons. It takes a mature person to know when it is best to walk away, I wish her the best.
The big question now is what do they do? What do we do? The Mayor with all of her degrees and “education” has no idea how to manage her council. Verbal assault last council meeting, a resignation this council meeting, what’s next? Keep those training sessions scheduled council members, they’re really paying off *eye roll*.
Hoping that Roa and Hank keep it honest as the items come forward.
How Megan Garibaldi is still considered a legal authority for our city is beyond me. Two of the members of the board of councilors at Gould belong to my social club and well…they think she’s a putz. BBK would do well to let her go or maybe give her another opportunity to spread her wings. End of the day, she’s a shi*ty “interim” city attorney. If she was worth her weight in salt, she would no longer be “interim”. Learn parliamentary procedure, learn the Brown Act, learn the PRA. My friends from OC think you’re an airhead, and one served as a Deputy DA for a long time.
Watching the replay tonight it’s interesting to see that a member of the public said something to Jesse. He didn’t seem so tough tonight, I wonder why? Who was in the audience that he couldn’t get away with it? Whoever he/she/they are, keep the guy on ice and keep him humble. He’s a charlatan. Yes Jesse, you are a charlatan. Your neighbors, former tenants, ex-wife, and friends will all say that you are a slickster. Just a matter of time before they all get together and decide to show up to council meetings. Every dog has his day…
It’s very easy to be critical without looking at the fact of the matter. Whatever the reason for her departure, your insinuating something inappropriate may be taking place without having any proof to support your claim. All your doing is belittling the city and making baseless accusations about the city council. Who cares about your friends in Orange County. The mayor with all her degrees, is making sure the city achieves it’s full potential. She’s making it a better place to live, and she is an excellent role model for all our children to see someone from their community who rose up to Mayor and made a difference in the community. So why don’t you buzz off.
Because she has not answered requests for comment, if it was something innocuous, she would have answered correct? A no answer is incriminating.
Dale, there was no insinuation at all, simply statements. The point is that the Mayor’s primarily role and function is to run the meeting and keep order. She tends to let certain people get away with disruptive behavior during the meetings while being quick to reprimand others. In her role, she should try to be consistent with how she treats everyone, no matter how much they provoke her or the council.
I’m not belittling the city, it’s my home and I love it. The city is bigger than the people who run it, that’s for sure. Let’s not forget who votes those people in. It’s my right to be critical of our elected officials, especially when my family supported their campaign only to be lied to and be given the cold shoulder now that they’re in office. They got what they wanted, so maybe we’ll just see them around the next campaign cycle when they want another donation.
Point of bringing up attorneys in Orange County is because we should have a good City Attorney here. With the fees that are paid to that law firm we should not have someone who has a reputation for being anything less than a “good” attorney. That’s not asking for too much is it?
As for the Mayor being an “excellent” role model for our children, I would disagree. Not because she’s was able to become Mayor, but because of non-politically related reasons.
You may support her and see things from a completely different angle than the rest of us, however at my age I’ve learned to just trust my instinct. It is my hope though that what you say is true and that I am 100% wrong. It would be a beautiful day in the neighborhood when our city is living up to its full potential, no matter who is Mayor.
As for baseless accusations of council, it’s all public record and previously reported. Good first read would be Googling “World Financial Group”.