Imperial Beach Mayor Henry B. Smith Dies

Imperial Beach Mayor Henry B. Smith, whose administration has grappled unsuccessfully with a financial crisis that threatens to sink the city, has died of cancer.

The scrappy Smith, a plain-speaking, self-proclaimed “cracker,” died Monday at Chula Vista Community Hospital after a prolonged battle with the disease. He was 75.

On Tuesday, Smith’s colleagues on the City Council remembered the mayor, who was elected in 1986, as a gentleman with a wry sense of humor.

Councilman Bud Harbin, who was often at odds with Smith’s policies, said that the mayor “kept his sense of humor right to the end.”

Smith had been known to make fun of Imperial Beach’s humble beginnings and its sorry financial state.

“We were initially founded to accommodate tourists from the Imperial Valley, who came to the beach to escape the summer heat . . . Today, unless you live in Imperial Beach, you don’t have much reason to come here,” he once said.

During much of his tenure, Smith had to deal with his illness and with the financial quagmire that threatened to put him in the unenviable position of having to preside over the dissolution of the city of 25,000 residents. He tackled each with equal vigor.

Smith worked fruitlessly to solve the city’s money problems, even suggesting, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Coronado annex Imperial Beach and bail it out.

A week before his death, a state Senate committee approved a bill designed to pay off the city’s $2.9 million debt.

In a 1989 interview with The Times, Smith acknowledged that his administration had “pulled off some boners” in trying to ease the financial crisis, but added that he always acted in the city’s best interest.

Recently, Smith said that he wanted to remain in office long enough to fix the mistakes of the past.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

John Clingan will serve as interim mayor until an election can be held to fill the vacant seat.