Local News in Brief : Orange : Environmentalist Put on Air Board Again

City Council members from 24 of Orange County’s 26 cities voted Thursday night to reappoint Henry Wedaa, Yorba Linda’s mayor pro tem and self-described environmentalist, to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Meeting in the Orange Council Chambers, the cities also approved a major transportation report calling for new revenues, possibly through new taxes or fees, to pay for more than $1 billion worth of local road improvements to reduce congestion.

The 22-2 vote to retain Wedaa as the AQMD representative was cast by members of the county chapter of the League of Cities, acting as a special selection committee required by state law.

Wedaa defeated Westminster Councilman Frank Fry.

Representatives from Garden Grove and Costa Mesa were not present.

Wedaa has served on the AQMD board for 10 months. He replaced former Anaheim Mayor Don R. Roth when Roth became a county supervisor.

The unanimous vote favoring recommendations of the League of Cities’ so-called “super committee,” on transportation means that county officials will be asked soon to decide whether to seek more revenue for roads.

One of the recommendations is that a ballot measure on a half-cent countywide sales tax be considered. County voters overwhelmingly defeated a one-cent sales tax proposal in June, 1984, but officials say traffic congestion has worsened significantly since then.