City Council unanimously approves multiple agenda items, closed-session settlements

The Los Angeles City Council on Jan. 28 voted unanimously to approve a series of consent and non-consent items and to accept closed-session settlement recommendations read into the record by the Budget and Finance Committee.

Council President Marquise Herastas called votes throughout the meeting. Items 3 through 9 were opened for vote and approved by a recorded voice tally of "15 ayes." Later, items 10 through 15 — which were open for public comment — were likewise approved with a 15-aye vote.

During the public comment period several speakers addressed items 10 and 12, which public commenters described as appropriations to the Los Angeles Fire Department for preparedness and resiliency work. One commenter described item 10 as "a whole $50,000 to the fire department for disaster preparedness training" and item 12 as "$75,000 for the fire department for disaster resiliency plan." The council record shows items 10–15 were approved; the official motion texts and line-item amounts for those items are not specified on the meeting transcript beyond public comment references.

The council also took up closed-session items 16 through 32, described by staff as Budget and Finance Committee recommendations. The committee read recommended settlement authorizations into the record; the council approved those recommendations with a recorded vote of 15 ayes. The read statements included specific case names and recommended maximum settlement amounts, including (but not limited to):

- Farmers Insurance Exchange v. City of Los Angeles — expend up to $318,200 in settlement. - Socorro Carranza v. City of Los Angeles — expend up to $71,698.37 in settlement. - Angel Velis Ziroff (?) v. City of Los Angeles — expend up to $51,309.90 in settlement. - Lori Nolan v. Louis Diego et al. — expend up to $200,000 in settlement. - Bobby Worthy v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $140,000 in settlement. - Anush Gurboyan v. Paul — expend up to $175,000 in settlement. - Herbert R. Snyder v. City of Los Angeles — expend up to $500,000 in settlement. - Juan Jose Perez et al. v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $1,400,000 in settlement. - Lisa Ray Woodard v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $236,373.70 plus applicable interest. - Dora Hainzius v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $125,000 in settlement. - Raymond Brown v. City of Los Angeles — expend up to $475,000 in settlement. - Dylan Cullinan v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $635,000 in settlement. - Shay Lehi v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $275,000 in settlement. - Sylvia Elizabeth Hornquist v. City of Los Angeles et al. — recommendation to reject plaintiff's offer of settlement. - Alejandro Alonso v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $1,000,000 in settlement. - Vadim Albuq v. City of Los Angeles et al. — expend up to $340,000 in settlement.

(These case captions and dollar amounts were read into the record by committee staff during the meeting; the transcript records the committee recommendations as presented.)

Clerk: the council opened and closed the roll and recorded the votes for the listed items; the desk was cleared and items were posted and referred as announced.

Votes at a glance

- Items 3–9: Approved (15 ayes). Motion texts not specified in the transcript. - Item 2: Appointment of Angelique Perez to Community Forest Advisory Committee — Approved (15 ayes). [See separate article] - Items 10–15: Approved (15 ayes). Several public commenters referenced $50,000 (item 10) and $75,000 (item 12) appropriations for the Los Angeles Fire Department in public comment; official motion texts not specified in the transcript. - Items 16–32 (closed-session settlements): Committee recommendations read into record and approved (15 ayes); the record lists case captions and maximum settlement amounts as read.

The meeting adjourned after a series of ceremonial and memorial remarks.