Sparks Fly as Hawaiian Gardens Council Gives Up Cellular Phones

City Council members voted Tuesday night to give up their costly city cellular car phones during a stormy meeting in which one council member walked out and three others were served with recall notices.

“It’s become a spitting war with car phones and bills. . . . I don’t need a car phone,” said Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas, who had the biggest phone bill last year. “If I want one, I will get one myself.”

Councilman Domenic Ruggeri, the second-biggest phone user, at first defended the car phones, saying he needed one to keep in touch with City Hall. But he eventually joined three other council members in voting to drop the phones.

The fifth council member, H. M. “Lennie” Wagner, walked out of the meeting before the vote, after Navejas and Ruggeri began trading barbs. “I don’t want them abusing each other (any) more,” Wagner said.

Navejas and Ruggeri have mounted recall campaigns against each other, and have accused each other of using the cellular phones for private calls.

Ruggeri’s group is trying to recall Navejas and her council ally, Esther Flores. Navejas’ supporters are trying to recall Ruggeri. The city clerk tossed out the first recall notices on technical grounds, but both sides renewed their recall efforts, serving recall notices on one another Tuesday night.

The phones have cost the taxpayers more than $12,500--$7,500 for installation and more than $5,000 for calls--since council members began having them installed in their cars last spring. Council members Navejas, Ruggeri, Wagner and Flores received car phones. Only Mayor Rosalie Sher, who led the effort to get rid of the phones, does not have one.

“I think our city is too small,” the mayor said Tuesday. “I never approved of it,” she said, but added, “I’m not making a moral judgment.”

Ruggeri has accused Navejas of making personal calls on her car phone, and said some calls were made while the councilwoman was out of state. Navejas has refused to comment on the charge.

Phone records obtained from the city show that Navejas frequently used her car phone to call her home, as well as her business in Santa Ana. The records also show that she made several calls while in Arizona or en route there.

Overall, Navejas racked up $2,855 worth of calls between May and December last year, more than double the bills of the second highest caller--Ruggeri.

Navejas accused Ruggeri of using his phone for business calls, a charge that the councilman does not deny. “Ten percent of my calls are for business,” he acknowledged at the meeting. But he insisted that the cost to the city balances out because he takes time during his work hours as a salesman to make calls on city business from his office phone. He says he never asks the city to reimburse him for those calls. Navejas, he said, has the city reimburse her for calls she makes from her home.

Ruggeri’s phone calls cost the city $1,229 between May and December. Wagner’s bill for the same period was $569.92. Flores, who received a phone in September, had bills totaling $567 through December.