Whittier : Adviser for Uptown Hired

Councilman Victor Lopez has been unanimously elected mayor for the next two years, and Councilman Tom Sawyer has been elected mayor pro tem.

At its first meeting since the April 12 election, the City Council also voted to use $30,000 in federal revenue sharing money to pay a consultant who is preparing a plan for redesigning the earthquake-damaged Uptown business district.

The council hired the Pasadena-based Arroyo Group to conduct the study and planned to pay the consultant with federal earthquake recovery money. However, the city has not yet received those funds, so the council voted to pay the Arroyo Group from another account until the federal money arrives.

City officials say it will take the consultant 30 to 60 days to finish the study.