In Making Budget Trims, Redondo Cuts Out Civility

Redondo Beach City Councilwoman Kay Horrell accused Councilwoman Barbara J. Doerr of constantly blabbering. Doerr compared Councilman Stevan Colin to a squirrel, and Colin angrily offered City Atty. Gordon Phillips his spectacles when the two disagreed about how to interpret a city code.

But Tuesday night’s City Council meeting really boiled over when City Clerk John L. Oliver hurled several objects at Mayor Brad Parton, invited him to brawl in the back room, and angrily declared, “Goddammit, I’m sick and tired of this crap.”

The issue was money, and Redondo Beach officials were dealing with it in their typically combative way. But, despite the acrimony, the council was able to cut $1.2 million from its budget, while rejecting controversial employee layoffs aimed to offset an expected deficit.

Oliver, an elected official, was escorted out of the chambers by a police officer. He said later that he erupted because the council had not given the public a chance to comment while considering whether to lay off 10 employees and make other budget cuts.

“How can you vote on something this significant without asking the public for input?” Oliver said in a Wednesday morning interview. “Maybe you have to yell at the council to get their attention. I have a very long fuse, but when it goes off, it goes off.”

City Manager William E. Kirchhoff, hired earlier this year for his financial expertise, had proposed a package of $1.45 million in cuts--including laying off 10 workers--to deal with an expected budget shortfall that he blamed on declines in sales tax revenue and the sluggish economy.

In a bleak assessment of the city’s budget outlook, Kirchhoff wrote: “We can no longer continue to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. . . . We are now spending more than we can take in. In the private sector it’s called ‘going broke.’ ”

The council went along with $1.2 million in budget changes: eliminating $100,000 in non-essential travel, cutting $30,000 in management merit awards, transferring $200,000 in undesignated money to the city’s general fund, paying $330,000 in police salaries from seized narcotics funds and freezing 15 positions.

The majority of the council had favored the layoffs, but Doerr refused to hand out pink slips until other programs were cut first. She suggested instead that the city end its contribution to the Chamber of Commerce, take back its seed money to the new Visitor’s Bureau and end the free dinners served to council members before their twice-monthly sessions.

In angry exchanges throughout the evening, Doerr accused her colleagues--Horrell, Terry Ward, Colin and Parton--of ignoring the plight of city workers.

“I don’t think this should happen on the backs of 10 employees,” she said.

The other council members, meanwhile, criticized Doerr for interfering with decisions they said ought to be left to the city manager.

“This man (Kirchhoff) has been hired to do the job, and we all believe that he has the acumen to do this job,” Horrell said. “He is the expert. . . . If we don’t listen, we’re going to be in deep trouble.”

The council also sharply questioned City Atty. Phillips as to whether Kirchhoff needs council approval to order layoffs. The majority of the council argued that he could make such administrative changes himself, but Phillips said such a budget modification required four votes from the council.

With the latest budget cuts, the city will be operating with 36 fewer workers than it had before last spring’s hiring freeze. Kirchhoff said the city should have begun the freezes a year and a half earlier, when the economy began faltering.

The tough choices are necessary now, Kirchhoff said, because the city had projected that sales tax revenue would go up a conservative 3.5%. Instead, September’s quarterly sales tax report showed revenues down 8%. If that were to continue for the rest of the year, the budget would be $600,000 short. Declines in the hotel bed tax, building and planning fees and other charges are down as well.

Oliver’s outburst came at the end of the debate when Parton, who had finally arranged a compromise that all four members of the council supported, rushed the resolution to a vote.

The city clerk objected, saying there had not been any public comment on the council’s resolution. Parton disagreed and then said to Oliver, “Who asked you?”

Oliver stood up, slammed his fist on his desk and threw two electronic timing devices in the mayor’s direction, screaming: “Have some respect around here. I happened to be elected citywide just like you.”

The city clerk said he and his attorney will meet with Phillips next week to formally object to the city’s treatment of both Oliver and members of the public.

Ugly meetings are nothing new in Redondo Beach. Last spring the city manager distributed a memo at the council’s request about how the sessions might be conducted more peacefully.

“I have never seen a City Council conduct a business meeting like you do,” he wrote. “Ours is more akin to a rough-and-tumble union hall labor negotiation than the business meeting for an upper-economic, historical city steeped in rich traditions. . . . Your energy and enthusiasm for the job is limitless, but you sure come off looking bad.”

Kirchhoff’s memo did result in shorter, less testy meetings. But on Tuesday it was back to the days of old. When asked about Tuesday’s events, Kirchhoff said, “No comment.”