La Jolla Town Council’s future in jeopardy?

Last Updated on May 19, 2025

Months of upheaval among the trustees leave unanswered questions about how the Town Council can legally proceed.

With only five trustees remaining, and no vice president, secretary or treasurer, the future of the La Jolla Town Council is unknown as the organization struggles to retain board members.

One of the latest resignations came May 9 from former Town Council Vice President Peter Wulff, whom President Mary Soriano terminated publicly April 10 without a board vote for reasons of insubordination and failing to join a committee, among others.

Wulff continued to behave as a trustee in the weeks that followed, as there was not a quorum during the April 10 meeting and the board was not advised of or asked about the termination, which he said is required.

Wulff also disputed Soriano’s claims and has said her lack of leadership is damaging the Town Council.

The La Jolla Town Council is an all-volunteer community advocacy entity and is not an official advisory group for the city of San Diego. The council was established in 1950.

The Town Council’s posted bylaws state a minimum of 13 trustees, making a quorum at least 7 (50 percent plus one) “for the transaction of regular business of the LJTC.”

After Wulff’s termination, Chas. Dye and other trustees resigned, citing opposition to Soriano’s leadership and actions; by the May 8 meeting, only five remained: Soriano, Chief Technology Officer David Talcott, Rick Dagon, Jana Farella and Cody Petterson.

La Jolla Town Council President, Mary Soriano

The “solid five [trustees] are pushing and moving forward,” Soriano said May 8, though Dagon and Petterson were not in attendance.

Soriano also indicated four new candidates have come forward for trustee seats.

“We’ll work on to getting four more, at least the latest by August, when we start amending our bylaws,” she said.

However, without a quorum or minimum number of trustees, questions arise as to how the Town Council can add to its roster at all, as any action including adding trustees requires a vote of the quorum.

Trustee vacancies shall be filled by trustee vote, the bylaws state.

Soriano, Farella, Petterson and Talcott did not return requests for answers to questions about the bylaw or policy used to circumvent a necessary quorum; how the Town Council is able to add new trustees or exist currently as an entity; when an election forum scheduled for May 8 would take place; and more.

Dagon told lajolla.ca May 12 he is “not sure what the bylaws are” but would “support any new bylaw changes if required to keep the LJTC alive.”

“To watch [La Jolla Town Council] dissolve and die due to not having a certain amount of trustees due to the recent events does not make sense to me,” Dagon said.

Dagon will not renew his Town Council term when it expires in June (citing time constraints with his full-time job), which would bring the trustee count to four.