These cops will wear very different uniforms for a very different duty.

TRUE BLUE CHRISTMAS: Call it the Santa Squad--they’re on the street and handing out candy canes to children and adults alike. That’s right, Torrance’s police officers have turned in their dress blues for fake beards and red flannel as they patrol the city--not via squad car, but by float.

“It’s a real community event for the department,” said Officer Jim Ulrich, a spokesman for the Torrance Police Officers Assn., which sponsors a float the officers ride throughout town. “It’s more fun for us than it is for (the children).”

The association had used the same float for the holidays for 25 years before it “literally fell apart” this year, Ulrich said. A new float was built and it is being hauled by a truck and escorted by two police cars. It made its debut Friday.

No, the float won’t have a flashing red light--unless, of course, you count the beacon doubling as Rudolph’s shiny nose.

EARLY TO ADJOURN: The bite of recession is normally measured by layoff notices and gloomy sales figures, but another economic indicator has emerged in the South Bay: the shrinking agendas of city government meetings.

Because fewer developers are requesting permission to build stores and condominiums, many local planning commissions and city councils have less to do.

“We used to be there until midnight,” Torrance Planning Commissioner Frank Rizzardi said. “Lately, we’ve been getting out between 8:30 and 9:30 (p.m.). We had one where we got out in 40 minutes.”

The Lomita Planning Commission used to meet for up to four hours at a stretch; its sessions now last 60 to 90 minutes. In El Segundo, the commission’s meetings have been cut in half. Redondo Beach officials likewise have seen a decline of more than 30% in proposals for new projects and related items since 1990. And the Gardena Planning Commission has been canceling some meetings altogether.

“There’s a lot of very cautious people. There are a lot of loans that aren’t being granted,” said Kathy Icari, community development director in Gardena.

City officials aren’t necessarily happy about adjourning early.

Observed El Segundo senior planner Laurie Jester: “I think I’d rather stay up late once in a while and have more construction and more activity.”

CELEBRATING SLUDGE: A little-known anniversary was marked this month at the Hyperion Treatment Plant, where officials have sent out a news release titled: “City Observes Fifth Year of No Biosolids in the Bay.”

It seems that five years have passed since the mammoth, city-owned waste water treatment plant in Playa del Rey halted its discharge of “biosolids”--formerly known as sludge--into Santa Monica Bay.

Since then, the city has been busy finding new uses for its sludge, the thick, black liquid left behind by sewage treatment. In fact, plant officials note proudly that for the past three years, all Hyperion sludge has been recycled.

For the record: 645,000 wet tons of sludge have been applied to farmland in California and Arizona; another 170,000 tons went into a compost project in Lost Hills; 445,000 tons helped create a landfill cover in West Covina. More sludge was dried and burned to power the plant, with some ash carted off for use by a copper-smelting plant in Arizona.

Now recyclers are planning to mix biosolids with zoo manure and green trimmings to concoct an all-organic fertilizer known as “TopGro.”

But beach-goers can rejoice. One of the few places the black gooey stuff isn’t going is to the water of the South Bay.

HOLIDAY HEIST: This year, the Grinch stole the Bugle Boy and the Gymboree items. In this case, the Grinch was a thief who stole hundreds of pieces of baby and children’s clothes intended as a Christmas surprise for needy children in the South Bay.

Officials say five large boxes of clothes vanished from a Torrance warehouse after they were stored there by Salvation Army workers.

David Risher, director of social services for the Salvation Army’s Torrance corps, says he doesn’t know how his organization will manage to replace the clothing. The clothes were stolen from a Maple Avenue warehouse located next to the Torrance courthouse and Police Department.

But in the spirit of the season, Risher said that if the culprit “ever need(s) help, we want them to know that we’re here to help.”

LAST WEEK’S CITY HALL HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: The city is seeking 100 residents willing to have their drinking water tested for lead and copper. Eligible are residents of houses with lead or copper plumbing, brass fixtures inside the house or houses where plumbing was installed between 1983 and 1987. Sample kits will be delivered to participants, along with instructions, and city workers will pick up the kits the next day. Information: the city Engineering Department at (310) 412-5333. The city is conducting the tests to comply with EPA requirements that cities assess what problems they might have with lead poisoning.

Hawthorne: The City Council voted Monday to ask the county registrar’s office to expunge all incorrect voter registrations from the roster of city voters. Some residents complained this fall after discovering that they were registered more than once.

Rolling Hills: The City Council on Tuesday named Councilman Ken Servis mayor for the coming year and moved Councilwoman Barbara Rauch up to mayor pro tem. Servis, registrar at USC, has been on the council for three years.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: The public is invited to the city’s tree-lighting ceremony, featuring Christmas carols and a visit from Santa Claus, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Gardena: The Gardena Valley Friends of the Library next week will celebrate 80 years in Gardena and dedicate a storybook mural and collection of 100 children’s books in honor of the late Mayme Dear. Past president of the library group, Dear, the mother of Mayor Donald Dear, was an elementary school teacher and library volunteer. The ceremony, including speeches and refreshments, will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK Avalon: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 209 Metropole. (310) 510-0220. Televised live on Channel 3 (Catalina Cable) and repeated Saturday morning. Carson: 6 p.m. Thursday, 701 E. Carson St. (310) 830-7600. El Segundo: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 350 Main St. (310) 322-4670. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at noon Wednesday. Lawndale: 7 p.m. Thursday, 14717 Burin Ave. (310) 973-4321. Televised live on Channel 60 and repeated several times during the week. Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, (310) 548-7637; in Wilmington, (310) 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, (310) 548-7664; in Westchester, (310) 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. (310) 545-5621. Televised on Channel 3 (MultiVision) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Redondo Beach: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 415 Diamond St. (310) 372-1171. Televised live on Channel 8 (Century); repeated at 3 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Sunday.