Councilman’s Prolonged Absence Costs Him His Seat

A Fountain Valley City Council member who gained notoriety for, among other things, placing his semiautomatic weapon conspicuously on the dais during meetings, has involuntarily vacated his seat by not attending a meeting in 60 days, according to the city.

Chuck Conlosh last attended a council meeting on Dec. 19, shortly before quitting his job as a Huntington Beach police officer and being admitted to a psychiatric ward in January.

City Atty. Alan Burns said Conlosh, 36, basically ousted himself from office through his absence. According to a government code, “If a City Council member is absent without permission from all regular City Council meetings for 60 days consecutively . . . his or her office becomes vacant and shall be filled as any other vacancy.”

According to that statute, Conlosh ceased to be a council member on Sunday, Burns said. His seat could be filled through a special election or by appointment.

But Conlosh’s attorney said that other council members’ animosity kept his client from being able to attend meetings. Conlosh feared retaliation for disagreements with city political leaders, attorney Bradley Gage said. Under those conditions, the clock on the government code would not start ticking on a politician’s return, Gage said.

“I think Chuck does want to come back,” Gage said. “But he’s legitimately concerned these folks have done him wrong.”

Gage said Conlosh checked into the College Hospital psychiatric ward in Costa Mesa under pressure from the Huntington Beach Police Department and Fountain Valley political leaders. Fountain Valley officials declined comment.

Huntington Beach Lt. Chuck Thomas said that when Conlosh was admitted, “he was . . . no longer a Huntington Beach city employee in any capacity, so the city would not have the authority to have him admitted.”

Conlosh became a Huntington Beach police officer in 1988 after a stint at the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. When he resigned, he was “an officer in good standing,” Thomas said. Police declined to provide details about his resignation.

Conlosh has butted heads with colleagues and staff in Fountain Valley for years, and has launched investigations against a number of Fountain Valley politicians and city employees.

His insistence on keeping his loaded police-issue 9-millimeter Glock with him at council meetings unnerved council colleagues. In a previous interview, Conlosh said he kept the gun in a fanny pack along with “my wallet, car keys, pager, credit cards and checkbook.”

He said he carried the gun for protection “from some pretty bad people I’ve arrested over the years.”

In August, a federal jury exonerated Conlosh on 10-year-old charges that he and a fellow Huntington Beach officer nearly sparked a riot in 1990 by allegedly using excessive force against a man at a party.