Council Targets Planning Panel Chief for Firing : Anaheim: A majority of councilmen believe Glenn Hellyer’s private business dealings give the ‘appearance’ of a conflict. He angrily denounces ‘cheap shot’ and refuses to quit.

Planning Commission Chairman Glenn Hellyer has been targeted for ouster by a City Council majority who believe the chairman’s private business dealings “appear” to be in conflict with his duties.

Officials present during a closed session of the City Council, held before last week’s public meeting, said Hellyer’s business interests in a local restaurant and his role in the relocation of another--both inside the city’s redevelopment area--sparked a call for his resignation.

However, City Atty. Jack L. White said Wednesday that a review of the chairman’s $20,000 investment in Yves Bistro, and his involvement as the leasing agent for the relocation of the Rose & Crown bar just north of City Hall, found no apparent violations of the state’s conflict-of-interest laws.

And Hellyer, who was informed this week of the council majority’s intentions by Councilman Irv Pickler, said he has properly separated his government and private business interests. He also angrily lashed out at individual council members for what he called a “political” move to oust him from the commission.

“Screw them,” he said Wednesday. “If they don’t have the stones to call me when they have a problem, screw them. They need me more than I need them.”

As chairman of Anaheim’s seven-member Planning Commission, Hellyer presides over a range of development requests and applications within the city, including those proposed within Anaheim’s downtown redevelopment area.

According to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, Planning Commission members are prohibited from acquiring real estate within redevelopment zones.

But White said the prohibition does not extend to investing in businesses operating in leased premises within the zone, like Hellyer’s bistro investment, or in brokering lease agreements in the redevelopment area, as Hellyer did for Rose & Crown.

City records also show that Hellyer abstained from voting on an October, 1991, request from Yves Bistro for a permit to sell alcoholic beverages. The chairman said he also plans to abstain when permits are considered for the Rose & Crown.

“Based on the facts presented to us, there is nothing here that constitutes a violation” of state conflict-of-interest laws, White said. “That is entirely aside, however, from the issue of whether there is an appearance of impropriety. The appearance is for other people to determine.”

Officials present during last week’s closed session said it was the “appearance of impropriety” surrounding Hellyer’s business activity within the redevelopment zone that has concerned them and prompted discussions of seeking the chairman’s resignation.

“It’s my feeling that there is sufficient information to know there is an appearance of conflict,” said one council member who declined to be identified. “I think it’s enough to where he shouldn’t be sitting on the Planning Commission.”

Another councilman present during the meeting, who also declined to be identified, said that after listening to White’s explanation of the matter, a majority of the council “was in favor of going to ask for (Hellyer’s) resignation.” During the meeting, he said, council members were designated to speak with Hellyer and “ask him to resign.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being worst, this smells like a 10,” the councilman said in an interview.

Hellyer said Councilman Pickler met with him Monday and discussed the matter, quoting Pickler as telling him: “There are some guys who think there might be reason for you to resign.”

Pickler could not be reached for comment, but Hellyer said that Pickler indicated the council was not “united” behind the idea. The commission chairman said he explained his business interests to Pickler who, he said, then pledged his support to Hellyer.

“I understand that the perception of impropriety is something that we have to avoid,” Hellyer said. “I’m real keen on that. If it’s something that will come before us (the commission) and I’m working on it, I’m going to back away from it in a heartbeat.”

Hellyer said he did not intend to resign and called the council’s private discussion of his ouster a “cheap shot.”

“I’m chairman of the Planning Commission, and these guys treat me like this? If I don’t have . . . their support, then they can vote me out. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”