Council Ousts Parks Commissioners : Dispute: Dismissals of four of five members follow letters to the editor from them criticizing Yorba Linda mayor’s statements about a shortage of facilities.

A simmering conflict between the City Council and members of the Parks and Recreation Commission boiled over Tuesday night when the council voted 3 to 1 to remove four of the five commissioners from office.

Commission members have been on a collision course with the council since last month, when representatives of several youth sports organizations complained that the commission was not addressing their concerns.

At an Aug. 17 meeting, the representatives told the council that the lack of fields was forcing them to turn away youngsters, increase team sizes and schedule games in other cities. They said the Parks and Recreation Commission was unresponsive to their concerns.

Although the council declined to expand the commission or to increase the power of the Sports Advisory Committee, it did respond by telling the city staff to make buying, building or borrowing a baseball field a top priority. The council also indicated a desire to add more soccer fields and build a gymnasium.

The council also ordered that the Parks and Recreation Commission meet more often and requested copies of the minutes of commission meetings and commission reports.

The goodwill generated at the Aug. 17 meeting was soon overshadowed when Commissioners Carol Cantwell, Wendel Bainter, Dean Clark and Susan Klingaman wrote letters to the editor of a local weekly newspaper criticizing Mayor John M. Gullixson for comments he made regarding the city’s shortage of athletic facilities. The fifth commissioner, Ken Ryan, did not sign his name to the letters and was not targeted by the council.

The letters, one from Cantwell and another from Bainter, Clark and Klingaman, accused Gullixson of overstating the need for more sports facilities and of using the issue to kick off his reelection campaign.

The commissioners also defended their track record, saying the city, compared to others, is doing an excellent job in building facilities.

Gullixson said his vote to remove the four from the commission was not prompted by the letters. However, he said, by writing the letters they were essentially resigning their seats.

“When they wrote those letters, they were effectively saying they didn’t want to serve on the commission,” Gullixson said Wednesday.

The mayor said his decision was based on reports from City Manager Arthur C. Simonian and Parks and Recreation Director Steve Rudometkin that the commission was not cooperating with the city staff.

“Staff has been telling us they have problems with the commission, that they can’t get any work done with these” four commissioners, Gullixson said.

But Bainter said the commission has had a good working relationship with Rudometkin and other parks employees and could have continued to work with the council.

“If the council had approached me privately and said it wasn’t working out, I would have resigned on the spot,” he said Wednesday. “This was a black day for Yorba Linda.”

In addition to Gullixson, council members Barbara Kiley and Daniel T. Welch voted to oust the four commissioners. Councilman Mark Schwing cast the dissenting vote, and Councilman Henry W. Wedda was absent.

Gullixson said he expects the council to appoint four new commissioners by October.