City Council to Discuss Mayor Pro Tem Nomination at April 10 Meeting

At the March 27 Calabasas City Council meeting, some routine business came to a grinding halt when Councilman James Bozajian asked to table the discussion about the next mayor pro tem until the April 10 meeting, a move perceived by some as a snub to Councilwoman Lucy Martin, who by tradition was due to be nominated.

The meeting ended with some heated words, as Martin told her fellow council members, "You should be ashamed of yourselves."

During this year's elections, Martin had supported challenger Jody Thomas, and the incumbents had been vocal about Thomas and her supporters' campaign tactics. Bozajian told Patch he will air his concerns at the April 10 meeting. The agenda for the meeting is attached.

Since the March 27 meeting, Patch readers have weighed in on the topic here in the Comments section. Here are some [sic]:

"Wow, Just another reason this council is screaming for term limits, King James and Queen Mary have gone to far this time. Lucy was right, you should be ashamed." -- Terry Stobie

"Holding up the due process of appointing the mayor pro temp for the purposes of "discussing" the tenor of an election and placing blame on any council member, or singularly remonstrating against anyone, the candidate(s) or their supporters, may be Mr. Bozajian's idea of conducting the city's business, but me thinks he and his cohorts protest too much." -- Maxine Linden

"I can not remember such nasty openly aggressively retribution against one member." -- Suzy

"Ms Martin you are correct we are ashamed, that people actually voted for you." -- Barbara Hellman

"So this was pure retaliation??? Collusion?" -- Carol Elliott

"Perhaps it is time for the people of Calabasas to elect their own Mayor?" -- Pamela Conley Ulich

"The high school bully mentality and actions of the Calabasas City Council towards Lucy Martin is nothing short of reprehensible." -- Jimmy Z

"What goes around comes around." -- David Litt

"I don't think the council should be ashamed of a thorough consideration of who the next Mayor of city will be. Because, the Mayor Pro-Tem will ultimatley become Mayor. The Mayor of a great city like Calabasas is an important position. Especially following former Mayor Mary Sue Maurer. Those are some big shoes to fill!!" -- Kari Contreras

--Patch editors Jessica Davis and Susan Pascal contributed to this report.