The West Hollywood City Council will examine potential changes to its council deputy system, but not until after the election process is finished, officials said.

In recent weeks the deputy system has come under fire. Each city council member works part time, and therefore employs a fulltime deputy to represent his or her office. Councilman John Duran’s deputy, Ian Owens, has been on paid leave after alleged misconduct.

Owens is accused of eavesdropping on Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman’s deputy, Fran Solomon. Owens alleges Solomon, who was working on Heilman’s reelection campaign for the March 3 election, was working for the campaign on city time.

Owens, in a letter addressed to the city, said he was a “whistleblower” about Solomon’s campaign misconduct. He also alleged that Duran and he had sex before he was hired, and that Duran had made unwanted advances while he was his deputy.

“Ian and I met years ago, had sex once, and it never happened again,” Duran said in a statement. “We became friends. Hernan Molina was my deputy at this time. Hernan got promoted many months after that. I hired Ian to be my interim deputy because of his background in finance, hotel development and real estate. He was qualified for the position. In the years he worked for me there were never any sexual advances made toward him. And there were never any allegations of sexual harassment filed until after he was walked out of city hall.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is leading a criminal investigation into the issue, and its findings will be submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in the near future, said Lt. Martin Rodriguez, with LASD’s Major Crimes Bureau.

West Hollywood City Attorney Michael Jenkins said the city’s own internal investigation was ongoing, but officials “hope to have it wrapped up soon, perhaps as early as the end of the week.”

Heilman, Mayor John D’Amico and city manager Paul Arevalo introduced a motion on Monday that would examine changing the way city hall staff members and the deputies conduct themselves. The motion was tabled until April, however, because Duran was absent from the meeting, and the city election on Tuesday and the upcoming special election will result in a change of council members.

“[The deputy system] has been a challenging organizational structure for a number of years,” Arevalo said at the meeting. “That program is unique to West Hollywood and how it is structured. There aren’t any other cities that have similar-type positions.”

The agenda item read that “in light of the pending deputy vacancies in the city council offices, there is a unique opportunity to reevaluate the council support staffing and possibly create a more streamlined, transparent and efficient council and constituent support system.”

The motion called for a council subcommittee to work with Arevalo to produce a new deputy and city manager’s office system.

“I’m willing to manage the program and step up and provide the leadership necessary,” Arevalo said. “We do need to create institutional changes in order for there to be significant changes in productivity, transparency and effectiveness of the program.”

The agenda item noted that no changes would be implemented until after the special election on June 2 to replace former councilman and current Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang.

The agenda item calls for a freeze in the hiring of council deputies as positions become vacant, and instead recommends using the city manager’s staff and remaining council staff as “pool resources for all council offices” for approximately a six-month period.

“Over the years there have been a number of concerns raised regarding the productivity and functionality of [the current structure] including duplication of effort, inconsistent responses to constituent questions, supervisory challenges and blurred lines of authority,” the item read.

The item calls for a proposed “Legislative and Community Advocacy Program” with a return to the “grassroots” nature of city council staff with a stronger “in the field presence.”

“I think there is a whole host of things [that could be changed for the better],” D’Amico said on Tuesday. “Certainly, what you’ve been hearing about and reading about in the press is part of [why we are examining the system]. And also, we want to make sure the residents are getting the most value for their dollars. In 2015, there might be better ways for us to do community outreach, resident-assistance work and legislative writing.”

It is possible a new system would give the city manager more oversight, with staff duties split into a legislative arm and a community outreach arm.

D’Amico said that the deputies have been very helpful to the council members over the years, specifically in regards to scheduling and representation in the community.

“I have some reservations about handing over that much access to the city manager’s office,” he said. “I think many of our residents have found the deputies incredibly helpful over the years.”