With serious budget questions and a general election knocking on the door, the Culver City City Council got a bit of a breather Monday, March 8 — at least during the open portion of its latest gathering at City Hall.

While the council spent more than four hours behind closed doors discussing personnel items such as the hiring process for both a new city manager and a new chief to helm the Culver City Fire Department, the five--member body spent just 90 minutes in open session tending to a handful of pedestrian matters.

The bulk of the meeting was spent with the council wearing its collective secondary hat as the city’s redevelopment agency and partaking in a review and discussion of the equity sharing policy with various members of city staff. The discussion primarily focused on the board’s mortgage assistance program (MAP) that was put in place in 1993 in an effort to help the city preserve its supply of affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families.

The program was discontinued in December 2005 due to escalating home prices, however, city staff sought to re-examine the issue given the current downturn in the local economy. After a lengthy give-and-take, no action was taken.

In other news, the council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to establish a retiree health savings plan, while the redevelopment agency voted 5-0 to give approval to bid documents for the West Washington Area Improvement Plan.

The agency also opted to postpone discussion of numerous alternatives for the development of “Parcel B,” located downtown at 9300 Culver Blvd, citing the absence of key representatives from city staff from Monday’s meeting.