Costa Mesa : New Councilmen Help Name Hall as Mayor

New City Councilmen Orville Amburgey and Peter Buffa teamed up to help elect pro-development Councilman Donn Hall as mayor.

Hall, 57, who voted for himself, won the two-year post on a 3-2 vote Monday, with slow-growth advocates Mary Hornbuckle and Dave Wheeler voting no. Amburgey, a former Costa Mesa policeman, was elected the city’s vice mayor.

Hall replaces former Mayor Norma Hertzog, who announced earlier this year that she would not seek election to a fourth council term.

In recent years, the five-member council has been bitterly divided between those who favor increased development and those who want to maintain Costa Mesa’s suburban neighborhoods. Hall, who favors increased growth and whose views probably will prevail with the election of Amburgey and Buffa, said he will try to heal the rift that has developed between the two camps.

Referring to Wheeler, with whom he has publicly differed, Hall said: “I told him that we are starting with a clean slate. Let’s forget the past and work toward the future.”

Hall also termed “bigoted” a dissenting report by four members of the city’s task force on Latino day workers.

Recommendations of the 12-member task force called for cultural awareness programs, whereas the report by the four dissenters urged the city to rid itself of illegal immigrants “invading the area.”

“I take great offense to . . . those individuals who would use their appointment to this task force as a means to condemn our Hispanic community,” Hall said. Hall was first elected to the council in 1978. He owns Omega Industries of Newport Beach, which manufactures high-tech electronic equipment.