CITY HALL ROUNDUP : This candidate’s in the mayoral race for the (very) long haul.

LONG DISTANCE RUNNER: Lest there be any doubt that he’s still interested in the mayor’s job, Torrance City Councilman Bill Applegate decided to toss his hat into the ring early. About 30 months ahead of the March, 1994, election.

City Hall pundits say it’s the earliest announcement by a Torrance mayoral candidate in memory. It left some of them open-mouthed. But Applegate apparently wants this job so much that he’ll start campaigning 2 1/2 years in advance.

Applegate says he simply wants to allow himself plenty of time to raise money: “The cost of running a campaign in this city is going to go up,” he says. “These are not the best of times.”

But some Torrance politicians detect a different agenda--that Applegate is trying to upstage Councilman George Nakano, who is widely expected to make a mayoral bid too. Nakano must run for reelection to the council in the March, 1992, election.

In case you’re wondering, city law prevents Mayor Katy Geissert from running again.

FISCAL FIT: Early last year, a salary study showed that El Segundo’s management employees lagged behind their counterparts in other South Bay cities. So the City Council approved pay increases.

But when the council recently saw the pay raises on paper--increases of between 2.2% and 21% for 13 employees--they had a fiscal fit.

Mayor Carl Jacobson says that when the council approved the salary study, it “didn’t know the full budget ramifications of it. We saw bits and pieces and talked about it some, but didn’t go into depth as much as we should have.”

Councilmen only recently realized the significance of last year’s pay raises when looking through this year’s proposed budget. That’s because the raises were approved too late last year to be included in the printed budgets for Fiscal 1990-91. And since seeing the numbers, the council has faulted City Manager Ron Cano for not providing them with enough information.

Now, Jacobson says, a salary rollback is a possibility.

For his part, Cano admits that some of the raises may seem excessive “compared to the person flipping hamburgers.” But in relation to other cities, he said, El Segundo’s managers are now on par in their pay.

NOISE, TRASH AND VIDEOTAPE: A Hermosa Beach drive-through restaurant got some thumbs-down reviews from city lawmakers last week. And the critique had nothing to do with the food or the service.

It had to do with the clientele.

On a videotape made by city employees, customers could be heard shouting in the drive-through line outside the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant on Aviation Boulevard and honking their car horns. All this took place well after midnight just a few yards from residences, prompting neighborhood complaints.

One fuming resident also plopped in front of the council a trash bag full of Jack-in-the-Box burger wrappers, soda cups and napkins that were garnishing residents’ front yards.

Faced with the extraordinary evidence and a barrage of complaints from residents, the council voted 4 to 1 to require the eatery to close at 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends.

ENOUGH ALREADY: Harbor Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores left little doubt last week that she’s joined San Pedro’s slow-growth movement.

After Los Angeles’ Planning Commission delayed a decision on more restrictive zoning for the community, insisting that it needed more information, Flores said she didn’t mind the delay as long as commissioners don’t use Los Angeles’ housing crisis as an excuse for more development in San Pedro.

“We already gave at the office,” Flores said, referring to the glut of apartment and condominium development in the seaside community during the 1980s.

If commissioners decide that the Los Angeles housing market cannot afford new restrictions on development in San Pedro, Flores said she is prepared to fight the panel--and Mayor Tom Bradley, if need be--to ensure that San Pedro has new limits on multifamily housing. And, she said, she doesn’t see a problem in convincing her council colleagues that San Pedro has already done enough to provide more housing in Los Angeles.

“I think I can put up a very good fight in council to say. . . . ‘It’s somebody else’s turn,’ ” Flores said.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Hermosa Beach: The City Council agreed to purchase the 4.3-acre South School site from the Hermosa Beach School District for use as a public park. The city will pay $2.24 million for the land, with the funds possibly coming from the sale of the former Biltmore Hotel site, which the city owns. Voters will decide in November whether to sell the property or turn it into a park.

Inglewood: The City Council tabled a proposal to transfer city funds from Wells Fargo Bank to Bank of America. The city has been embroiled in a dispute with Wells Fargo ever since it learned last month that the owner of a janitorial company allegedly stole blank checks from City Hall and cashed them for $1.3 million.

Torrance: The City Council has asked for a report on a proposal requiring the sterilization of dogs and cats unless pet owners obtain a breeding license. The concept has the backing of the Los Angeles SPCA.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Carson: The City Council on Tuesday will examine its policy on naming parks, an issue that stems from a request by a group of residents to rename Winfield Scott Park for a longtime city worker of Samoan descent. The meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 701 E. Carson St. 830-7600. Televised at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 26 (Continental Cablevision) and repeated the next Wednesday.

Redondo Beach: The City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed reconstruction of Horseshoe Pier, which was destroyed by a storm and subsequent fire in 1988. The council will decide next month whether to spend $7.4 million to rebuild the pier. The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 415 Diamond St., 372-1171.

OTHER COUNCIL MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Avalon: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 209 Metropole. 510-0220. Televised live on Channel 3 (Catalina Cable) and repeated Saturday morning.

El Segundo: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 350 Main St. 322-4670. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at noon Wednesday.

Hermosa Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. 1315 Valley Drive. 318-0239. Televised live on Channel 3 (Multivision).

Lawndale: 7 p.m. Thursday, 14717 Burin Ave. 973-4321. Televised live on Channel 60 and repeated several times during the week.

Lomita: 7 p.m. Monday, 24300 Narbonne Ave. 325-7170. No cable.

Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, 548-7637; in Wilmington, 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, 548-7664; in Westchester, 641-4717. Televised live on Channel 35; meetings repeated individually at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and collectively on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

Manhattan Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1400 Highland Ave. 545-5621. Televised on Channel 3 (MultiVision) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Rancho Palos Verdes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Hesse Park, 29301 Hawthorne Blvd. 377-0360. Televised live on Channel 3; repeated at 7:30 p.m. the following Tuesday.

Torrance: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd. 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.