Redondo Beach : Mayor’s Veto of Harbor Board Plan Overturned

The City Council voted unanimously this week to override Mayor Barbara Doerr’s veto of an ordinance that gives harbor and pier lessees an alternate representative on the influential Harbor Review Board.

Doerr vetoed the ordinance last week, saying it gives special privileges to King Harbor interests. The ordinance also changes the name of the panel to the Harbor Commission.

Under the ordinance, an alternate will join the lessees’ representative, Mary Davis, at Harbor Review Board meetings and will participate in deliberations. The alternate will vote only when Davis disqualifies herself.

The ordinance is designed to ensure regular participation in deliberations by the lessees, who occasionally are disqualified because the discussions involve an issue in which Davis has an economic interest.

While the council voted without comment to override the veto, Doerr responded by reading a prepared statement outlining her opposition to giving the harbor representative an alternate.

“If not given to all, then this very special privilege should not be given to the harbor representative only,” she said. “These other representatives occasionally face conflict of interest concerns and must, from time to time, abstain from voting on certain issues.”