The Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Government Board announced Malibu City Councilmember Karen Farrer as the president of the board during its Jan. 18 meeting.
LVMCOG is a joint powers authority of the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu and Westlake Village. Through the COG, the cities cooperatively and voluntarily work together to address regional priorities and matters of mutual interests.
Previous president Kelly Honig, of Westlake Village, nominated Farrer as president and Stuart Siegel of Hidden Hills for vice president. Farrer follows Honig, who served one term.
“I am more than happy to do it,” Farrer said. “Kelly did a great job and I was happy to step up.”
The board also includes Siegel, Denis Weber of Agoura Hills and Alicia Weintraub of Calabasas.
Farrer said the COG discusses individual issues and concerns and provides perspective from other cities.
“We each deal with our city’s individual issues at our councils, our respective councils, and of course we will give our perspective from our cities,” Farrer said. “The Woolsey fire was a huge issue that we talked about and we work with all of the agency partners and that’s another reason that this COG works together.”
According to the City of Calabasas website, “the COG’s mission for the multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan is to promote sound public policy and programs designed to protect the public, critical facilities, infrastructure, private and public property and the environment from natural and manmade hazards. This will be achieved by developing and implementing this plan to guide the Region towards creating and maintaining a safer more sustainable community.”
The COG also works with the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, which serves the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, and Westlake Village, as well as Chatsworth Lake Manor, Malibou Lake, Topanga, and West Hills.
“We deal with regional issues. We all deal with public safety, homelessness, watershed issues, transportation and some of these funds are specific to the COG,” Farrer said. “We usually also have someone from Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s office who will make a report or give us an update at each of the agency partners’ meetings.”
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at 8:30 a.m. All meetings are being conducted utilizing teleconferencing and electronic means consistent with Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order N-29-20, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The live stream of the meeting may be viewed online.
The agency partners, i.e., LASD, LACoFD, Metro, League of California Cities, Supervisor’s Kuehl’s office, Senator Stern’s office, Assemblymember Allen’s office, etc., who participate in LVMCOG meetings do so at the regular monthly meetings, not at a separate meeting.
Updated on March 29, 2022: The story has been updated to correct the date of the meeting from Feb. 18 to Jan. 18 and correction on served terms, Honig served one term.