LAGUNA BEACH : Gentry Elected to 3rd Term as Mayor

Councilman Robert F. Gentry, who was selected by colleagues last week to serve as mayor for the third time since he was elected in 1982, said one of his top goals will be to pass a new city law that gives legal recognition to unmarried “domestic partners” in “long-term, committed relationships.”

The new mayor’s idea is intended to help homosexual couples, but Gentry said it could also benefit senior citizens who are “locked out of marriage because of Social Security benefits.” The law could aid unmarried couples seeking hospital visitation rights and help them gain employment benefits, he said.

Domestic partners “will have a document in hand saying they are recognized by a governmental agency,” said Gentry, the only acknowledged gay elected official in Orange County and an outspoken advocate of homosexual rights.

In August, Laguna Beach became the first city in Orange County and one of only a few in the nation to grant medical benefits to unmarried partners of city employees, including gays and lesbians. Gentry proposed that policy, calling it “an issue of basic equity in the workplace.”

The selection of Gentry as mayor on Tuesday night surprised some residents because the council has traditionally advanced the mayor pro tem to the mayor’s seat. Councilwoman Martha Collison, who had served as mayor pro tem for the preceding two years, was nominated along with Gentry but lost to him on a 3-2 vote of the council.

Collison said she was disappointed.

“I’m a little upset with it, primarily because of protocol and working together as closely as we have,” she said. Collison denied, however, that the vote will create a rift on the City Council, a generally harmonious body that consistently votes unanimously on environmental issues.

When a 3-2 vote does split the council, Collison is often in the minority with Councilman Neil Fitzpatrick. Collison, a realtor, is often aligned with the city’s business community, which has traditionally supported her candidacy.

“She has worked real hard for a lot of our positions,” said Becky Carey, president of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce. However, in Laguna Beach the mayor is largely a ceremonial figure and Carey said it makes little difference who fills the top seat on the council.

“We figure (when) we go over there it’s always going to be a 3-2 vote anyway,” she said.

In future elections, Carey said, chamber members will work to get more “pro-business votes” on the council.

During his term as mayor, Gentry said, he will also continue lobbying the federal government to have the waters off the Orange County coast designated as a marine sanctuary. He also said he will work to secure the future of the city’s mobile home park residents.

Councilwoman Lida Lenney was selected as the city’s new mayor pro tem.