Votes at a glance: Council approves settlements, contract increase and multiple agenda items

The Los Angeles City Council recorded multiple formal actions on March 25, including approval of several settlement‑payment resolutions, passage of the original contract authority item after a proposed substitute failed, and recorded votes on other agenda items.

Contract authority (Item 1): Councilmember Soto Martínez offered a substitute motion to modify the recommended action on item 1. The council first voted on whether to substitute; the substitute failed on a 4‑to‑9 recorded vote. The council then voted on the original recommendation; the clerk announced the result as 10 yes, 3 no and the original recommendation was approved. The adopted language directs modification of a contract (form 25‑0169 referenced in the staff report) to increase authority, requires the City Attorney to report to council within a month on financial risk for each claim related to the matter, requires progress reports on the litigation, and asks for a review of the feasibility of moving case management for the subject matter.

Closed‑session settlement items (Items 33–41): The Budget and Finance Committee recommended settlement amounts in a series of cases brought against the city. The clerk read each case name and a recommended payment amount into the record; the council voted to approve those recommendations. The clerk announced “15 in favor” after the committee’s recommendations were read. Cases and recommended maximum settlement amounts read into the record included: Scarlett Meldone Addow v. City of Los Angeles (up to $100,000); John Sturges v. City of Los Angeles (up to $150,000); Steven Kere v. City of Los Angeles (up to $165,650); Emily Button v. City of Los Angeles (up to $175,000); Barbara Amanda Husman v. City of Los Angeles (up to $185,000); Maria Trebets v. City of Los Angeles (up to $200,000); Alba Rivera v. Steven Ruda (up to $200,000); Season H. Kang, Cristina and Storga v. City of Los Angeles (up to $1,250,000); and Kimberly Marqueen v. (unnamed LAPD officer) (up to $1,163,563). The council approved the committee recommendations on the record by the announced tally.

Other roll‑call items: The meeting included recorded votes on numerous additional agenda items (for example, items 3, 8, 10, 14, 15, 22, 23, 29, 32). Several items were taken as amended or were recalled for reconsideration and some were voted separately after motions to reconsider. Detailed vote tallies for each of those items were announced on the record during the meeting; where recorded tallies were read into the record those counts are reflected in the minutes.

Where the council approved or rejected a substitute motion, the clerk’s readouts for both the substitute and the underlying motions are included in the official file. The council’s actions direct staff to proceed on approved contracts, settlements and project steps; most items require follow‑up reporting specified in committee recommendations or on the council floor.