3-Year Bingo License Proposal Fails : Cudahy: In a fiery two-hour session, the City Council fails to act on nine controversial proposals.

A bitterly divided City Council struggled through a two-hour session punctuated by shouting, table-pounding and name-calling. Some council members accused colleagues of lying. They accused each other of playing political games and ignoring the needs of the town.

Even the audience got into the act, heckling council members. One member of the audience even told a councilman to “shut up.”

When it was all over Monday, nine controversial proposals being considered by the council--including a plan to grant three-year bingo licenses--failed to make it off the table.

The City Council, down one member after Tom Thurman resigned last week--deadlocked on several controversial issues, perhaps signaling the tone of future council meetings through the April municipal election.

Two proposals, which failed on 2-2 votes, would have set up a new food and clothing distribution program for the needy. Two other agenda proposals, which would have penalized city employees who get involved in political and smear campaigns, never reached a vote.

Councilman Bill Colon, without comment, withdrew a proposal to hire a new city manager--a proposal described by critics as an attempt to oust acting City Manager Jack Joseph for denying a three-year bingo license to a business acquaintance of Colon. The councilman said later that he withdrew the proposal because he knew it would fail.

Council members had predicted before the meeting that little would be accomplished, and it became clear almost immediately that their instincts were correct. The council couldn’t even approve the minutes of the previous meeting--ordinarily a routine function. Councilman Joseph Fregeau questioned why the minutes included a reference to a council action that the city attorney later said was beyond the council’s authority. The four councilmen deadlocked over the minutes.

The most heated debates came during consideration of the proposed three-year bingo license and two proposals concerning social services in Cudahy.

Colon proposed an amendment to a city ordinance to allow for three-year bingo licenses. Though the new ordinance would have benefited all qualified applicants, only Compton businessman John Mgrdichian holds a license to operate bingo games in Cudahy.

Mgrdichian is president of a charitable organization called the Social Service Foundation, which plans to use proceeds from bingo games to fund social service agencies. The foundation has a license to operate a 450-seat bingo parlor on Santa Ana Street, but the license will expire in August, before the parlor is expected to open.

Two years ago, Colon was a strong council proponent of a plan by Mgrdichian to set up bingo games to fund the Cudahy Social Service Agency, which provided food and clothing to needy residents. Colon served briefly as a director of Mgrdichian’s foundation.

At Monday’s meeting, Joseph, the acting city manager, recommended that the council turn down the proposal for a three-year license, contending that a one-year license would make it easier for the city to ensure that the Social Service Foundation is still meeting the terms of its license from year to year.

Both Colon and John Robertson have argued that Mgrdichian, who did not attend the meeting and who was never mentioned by name, has a substantial investment in the bingo parlor and should have some assurance that his license would not be threatened by a change in City Council members in the April 10 election. Mayor Joseph Graffio and Colon are up for reelection. The seat vacated by Thurman also is on the ballot.

Fregeau said he believed that “those on the council pushing (for a three-year license) could well be expecting to receive favors in return. One of those favors could be financial help in the coming election and future elections.”

He described the proposed three-year bingo license as a “manipulating tactic” ultimately aimed at establishing a card parlor. He said Robertson and Colon have spoken out several times in favor of a second card parlor in addition to one scheduled to open later this year.

He was interrupted by Colon, who stood up and shouted: “You are a liar! I want that on the record! This man is a liar!”

Mayor Graffio then slammed the gavel and told Robertson, who was beginning to speak, to “shut up.” Robertson said he had a right to speak and told Graffio to “shut up.”

The proposal failed on a 2-2 vote.

Another argument broke out when Graffio asked that a $350-a-month contract for distributing food to the needy be awarded to the Bell Gardens Human Services Assn. The food-distribution program had been operated out of a city-owned building by the Cudahy Social Service Agency, which last month was served with an eviction notice and has since stopped the distributions.

Graffio said that if the contract were awarded, the Human Services Assn. would hand out food to Cudahy residents every month from the city’s Leo P. Turner Community Center.

Robertson said he was concerned about the proposal because political material has been distributed at the community center, the headquarters for the senior citizen’s club. Fregeau and Graffio, who are members of the club, denied Robertson’s accusation.

“That is not so, John,” Fregeau said. “You are a liar.”

Graffio, who is running for reelection on the same ticket as two officers of the senior citizen club, denied any political material had been distributed at the community center.

The proposal failed, 2-2, leaving Cudahy without a local food distribution program for its low-income residents. Susanne Sundberg, executive director of the Human Services Assn., said Cudahy residents who qualify can get an emergency food distribution from the Bell Gardens agency, but would not be eligible for a regular, monthly food distribution.

“Until they (council members) get their own business in order, I have no idea where these people are going to go,” Sundberg said.

The council also split over a Colon proposal to put the city in charge of the Cudahy Social Service Agency’s food-distribution program, and to hire the agency’s former director, James Graham, as manager.

Some residents later criticized the council.

“It (the meeting) was just like a bunch of kindergarten kids fighting over jacks and balls,” said resident Georgia Scrivner, who last year launched a recall effort against Fregeau and Robertson. She has announced plans to withdraw the recall attempt against Robertson.

The council did agree Monday on some agenda items.

A list of federally funded programs for low-income city residents was approved, as was a proposal to set up polling locations for the April 10 elections.

And the council proclaimed the week of March 12-18 “Camp Fire Birthday Week.”