NOT ENOUGH MEMBERS ON GWP PANEL COMMISSION RESIGNATIONS CUT DEEPLY.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

GLENDALE -- The group entrusted to oversee the city's Water and Power Department now has no power of its own.

With the resignation of two of its members earlier this month, the Glendale Water and Power Commission has just two left, meaning it is legally barred from meeting because it can't form a quorum. The commission will miss its monthly meeting in June and possibly its July session as the City Council scrambles to fill the vacancies.

``The City Council might have to institute a draft to get any volunteers now,'' said Gary Cornell, immediate past president of the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council.

Still, Cornell plans to put in his name, and he would like the commission to meet soon.

``Just before the budget goes into effect for the new fiscal year, I think it's critical (the commission meet),'' he said.

The May 1 resignations of commissioners Albert Gosselin Jr. and Ruben Rubi came after the council in October removed Lenore Solis from the five-person commission after she led a community protest against a planned railroad crossing closure. The council had yet to find a replacement for Solis when Gosselin and Rubi quit.

``We just were late on that, no real excuse,'' Councilman Ara Najarian said. ``But now we have two more to do ... so now this has taken on a new urgency to fill the commission so they can start meeting.''

The commission mainly acts as an advisory panel to the council, but its public meetings also give residents a chance to comment on how the utilities are operating.

Changes in the way Glendale Water and Power runs itself are always brought before the City Council. On May 30, the council is expected to consider the proposed rate increase Gosselin and Rubi opposed.

When he resigned from the commission, Rubi said Glendale's electric rates were already higher than what neighboring cities charge.

But City Manager Jim Starbird said the rate hike is needed to help pay for GWP infrastructure improvements to an agency that has experienced an inordinate number of power outages over the last year. More than $100 million in work is planned over the next five years. Plus, natural gas costs are up, he said.

The two-year rate increase would hike customers' bills twice -- once on July 1 and again the following year. Residential customer bills would increase by about 14 percent, while commercial businesses would see a 20 percent jump.

Now, a GWP residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month pays $66.34.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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