Ventura Blvd. Panel Election Overturned

The recent election of a Sherman Oaks real estate agent as chairman of a citizens panel charged with overseeing a planned overhaul of Ventura Boulevard has been overturned because a provision of the state’s open meeting law was violated.

Jeff Brain was elected chairman of the 13-member Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board by a 7-4 vote at the board’s July 26 meeting. One board member was absent from the vote and one seat is vacant.

But the president of an Encino homeowner group challenged the election, saying it was held in violation of a state meeting law because the election was not on the meeting agenda and the public therefore was not properly informed.

“This isn’t sour grapes,” said Gerald A. Silver, a critic of many of Brain’s policies. “It was just not a fair election. It was not democratic because people did not know about it.”

The Brown Act, which applies to the advisory board appointed by council members and the mayor, stipulates that business conducted by the board should be put on an agenda at least 72 hours in advance of its meetings.

The election was not included on the agenda due to an oversight, said a city Planning Department staffer who works with the board. Brain, who will be acting chairman of the board until another election is held at the board’s Aug. 17 meeting, conceded that an error was made.

“It sounds like he’s correct,” Brain said of Silver’s complaint. “We’ll reaffirm the vote at the next meeting. I don’t expect any change in the outcome at all.”