City treasurer learns that in salary discussions, timing is everything.

BAD TIMING: It may be that the Manhattan Beach City Council would never have entertained City Treasurer Stephen A. Schlesinger’s request for an $800-a-month pay raise. But coming when it did, after the council had made the painful decision to end stop-gap funding for the Manhattan Heights Library, the request met with a particularly frosty reaction.

“The timing was terrible,” City Manager Bill Smith said.

Over the past seven months, the city has spent nearly $200,000 to keep the county library open. The council decided to stop the payments, citing budgetary constraints.

Schlesinger, appointed to the part-time treasurer’s post in 1989 before winning election to a four-year term last year, earns $200 monthly--the same amount earned by council members and the city clerk. He also receives a monthly car allowance of $265 and health benefits.

In a memo, Schlesinger asked the council to boost his salary to $1,000 a month, pointing out that other part-time treasurers earn a lot more than he does. El Segundo’s treasurer, for instance, earns $900 a month, he said, while Hermosa Beach’s earns about $1,250 a month.

Schlesinger also reminded the council that he set up a checks and balances system in 1989 that protected the city from the kind of investment loss suffered by Torrance in 1991. (Torrance lost more than $6 million entrusted to Orange County investment adviser Steven D. Wymer, who later pleaded guilty to securities fraud.)

Council members, who have not had a raise since the 1970s, agreed to consider hiring a part-time employee to help Schlesinger with his work. But they made no promise of a raise.

“I don’t think Steve isn’t deserving,” Mayor Pro Tem Steve Napolitano said. “I’m just not convinced he’s more deserving than anyone else.”

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CHURCH AND STATE: In the beginning there was a monolith at Redondo Beach City Hall. It was gray, six feet tall and had the Ten Commandments chiseled into its granite face.

For many years, the one-ton monolith gave much joy. But not to Jack Tyler.

The onetime City Council candidate believes the monolith is a religious symbol and therefore has no place on city property.

“It offends me because it attacks the spirit of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights,” Tyler told the City Council. He insisted that it be moved from City Hall.

City officials, however, say the monolith, a gift from the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1961, will stay put. They point out that more than 2,500 cities nationwide, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, have a display of the Ten Commandments on their property.

And according to Councilman Stevan Colin, the monolith provides more than spiritual inspiration.

“It keeps cars from crashing into the Police Department’s windows,” he said. “It will stop you if you swerve too far to the right on your way into the city parking lot.”

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KEEP DREAMING: Thomas Davis thought he had a unique “commercial experiment.”

His idea was to open a lingerie shop in a Carson storefront that would feature not only lingerie but models performing “erotic and provocative” dances on platforms in the store.

Customers at his Lingerie Dreams--which he wanted to open across from the South Bay Pavilion at Carson Mall--would be charged to view the so-called “artistic” performances. He also would have free performances to promote lingerie sales.

“For example, one of the many performances under consideration is a woman appearing on the stage in lingerie, musically accompanied by a recently released recording consisting of background music from Helen Reddy’s ‘I Am Woman,’ but entitled ‘I Am Hillary’--a spoof on the . . . First Lady’s prominent position in the federal government,” Davis told city officials.

“The performer would don a wig as similar as possible to the First Lady’s hair and mimic her mannerisms,” he said. “The performance would be politically satirical, humorous, provocative, erotic, interesting and thought-provoking.”

City officials disagree. The city Finance Department denied Davis’ entertainment permit, a decision he unsuccessfully appealed to the City Council.

In refusing to grant Davis a permit, officials cited a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department report that said he had to close a similar business last December in West Hollywood because of zoning violations and neighborhood complaints. The business also was the target of sheriff’s vice squad prostitution stings, according to the sheriff’s office.

City Finance Director Lorraine A. Oten called the proposed modeling “detrimental to the public interest and may endanger the public health, safety, morals or welfare.”

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CAT MAN: There are probably few jobs as thankless as handling community relations for an oil refinery overrun with feral cats. That has been the role of Barry Engelberg, spokesman for the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery in Torrance.

When Mobil began removing cats from the refinery last spring, four of the felines were killed at a local shelter, enraging South Bay animal lovers. Month after month, Engelberg juggled calls from cat defenders and reporters hungry for scraps of cat news. Finally, he helped forge a kinder and gentler solution: move the estimated 100 refinery cats to an animal refuge in Kern County, where a cattery was built with Mobil funds.

Now it comes to light that refuge operators, grateful for Engelberg’s help, have responded in their own way. A gray-and-white tabby from Mobil has been christened “Barry” in Engelberg’s honor. Asked about his feral namesake, the Mobil spokesman declined to comment.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“You’ve got to have a cigarette going when you’re playing bingo, just because you get really nervous. You either smoke or you eat.”

--Annette Norman of Wilmington, a bingo enthusiast explaining why anti-smoking restrictions jeopardize bingo fund-raisers held at Redondo Union High School.

LAST WEEK’S CITY HALL HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: The City Council began reviewing a proposed 1993-94 budget that would eliminate 52 city positions. Although some of the jobs are currently vacant, a dozen full-time employees and seven part-timers could lose their jobs under the fiscal plan. The $137.9-million budget is significantly leaner than last year’s budget of $143.6 million.

Rancho Palos Verdes: The City Council said it will consider easing a development ban within the Klondike Canyon and Abalone Cove landslide areas. The council asked the city attorney’s office to prepare an ordinance that would set up guidelines to permit construction in areas where development has been prohibited for 30 years. The council will consider the ordinance July 6 before scheduling workshops and hearings on the matter.

Redondo Beach: The City Council unanimously agreed to require its members to file mileage reimbursement claims within 60 days--the same guidelines imposed on other city employees. But the council put off making a decision on a proposal to prohibit council members and city employees from receiving any gifts from people or companies that do business with the city.

Torrance: The City Council voted to hold a second annual Air Fair on Oct. 9 and 10 at Zamperini Field. Last year, an estimated 7,500 people attended the fair, which was the first such event held at the municipal airport since 1973.

THIS WEEK’S CITY HALL HIGHLIGHTS

Carson: Continental Cablevision, Channel 26, will start broadcasting election results at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Eight people are running for one City Council seat. Proposition E, a non-binding advisory measure, is asking voters if the city should form its own school district.

Palos Verdes Peninsula: The Palos Verdes Library District will have its final budget hearing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hesse Park, 29301 Hawthorne Blvd., in Rancho Palos Verdes. Trustees will vote on a proposal to close two branch libraries and reduce hours at the Peninsula Center Library.

Rancho Palos Verdes: City officials will sponsor a Town Hall meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ladera Linda Park, 32201 Forrestal Drive, to discuss projected state funding cutbacks of as much as $450,000. Residents will be asked to share their views on what the city should do about its worsening budget problems.

Torrance: The City Council will conduct a workshop at 5 p.m. Monday to discuss its 1993-95 budget proposal. The council will consider a series of fee increases and the elimination of 10 vacant positions to offset a $5.3-million shortfall in its $97.8-million operating budget.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Gardena: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1700 W. 162nd St., Gardena. (310) 217-9565. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at 7 p.m. on the next two Sundays.

Hermosa Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1315 Valley Drive, Hermosa Beach. (310) 318-0239. Televised live on Channel 3 (Multivision).

Inglewood: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. (310) 412-5280. No cable telecast.

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.

Palos Verdes Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 340 Palos Verdes Drive West, Palos Verdes Estates. (310) 378-0383. No cable telecast.

Rolling Hills Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 4045 Palos Verdes Drive North, Rolling Hills Estates. (310) 377-1577. Televised live on Channel 3 (Dimension).

Torrance: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd., Torrance. (310) 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and at 10 a.m., 3 and 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.