Auto Mall’s Revised Signboard OKd in a Testy Council Session : Thousand Oaks: Meeting is marked by an hour and a half of barbs and accusations by members.

The issue seemed cut and dried: Did the revised sketches for an Auto Mall sign match the Thousand Oaks City Council’s previously imposed standards?

But that basic question was nearly obscured during a rancorous, 90-minute debate Tuesday night, filled with backbiting that prompted a few spectators to cheer and hoot as though they were watching a football game.

In the end, the Auto Mall dealers received permission to erect the sign, which will feature a copper-and-blue globe atop two stucco pillars and a small electronic message board displaying the time and temperature.

Before the 3-2 vote late Tuesday night, however, council members spent an hour and a half accusing one another of grandstanding, spreading rumors and cutting off public comments.

“I’m kind of embarrassed for our council that disruptive politics are being played with no regard to democratic processes,” Councilman Frank Schillo said.

The mud-flinging prompted Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce President Steve Rubenstein to publicly chastise the council. “I just don’t understand where this council is going--it’s almost embarrassing. I’m supposed to tell people outside this community to come here and bring their concerns to this council?”

The insults and innuendoes began moments after Mayor Elois Zeanah hit the gavel to open the council’s first meeting of the new year.

The council had been scheduled to take up the sign debate during its 5 p.m. session, which is reserved for non-controversial staff reports. A majority of council members considered the issue non-controversial because a 3-2 vote last month guaranteed Auto Mall dealers approval of a new sign, provided it met size and location standards.

Usually when the council puts conditions on an approval, city staff takes responsibility for monitoring compliance. Yet in this case, because the Auto Mall proposal had sparked such a loud public debate, the council decided to verify firsthand that the redesign met its standards.

That discussion, however, swiftly veered off course Tuesday evening.

First, Zeanah announced that she would push the Auto Mall issue to later in the agenda so interested citizens could be on hand after work.

Then, she shut off the microphone as attorney Chuck Cohen tried to explain the time and temperature feature of the new sign. Zeanah declared that she had not recognized Cohen at the podium and therefore he was out of order.

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“That is absolutely discourteous,” Councilman Alex Fiore responded to a burst of applause from the dozen Auto Mall supporters gathered in council chambers. “I don’t know of any mayor who has deliberately turned off the mike when a member of the public was trying to speak.”

Tempers flared again when Zeanah said she had heard rumors that the Auto Mall dealers were plotting to build a bigger, flashier sign next year--assuming the 1994 elections swept in a more pro-business council.

“That is a disreputable diatribe on your part,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar snapped. “It’s unbelievable. We’re now going to report on all the rumors running around this city? That’s unreal.”

Later, Lazar told the mayor: “I’d like to compliment you on your grandstanding this evening.”

Along with dishing out criticism, Lazar took her share of blows.

As the council member closest to the Auto Mall issue, Lazar has tried to negotiate a compromise between the dealers, who want a highly visible sign, and residents, who complain that a tall electronic billboard would mar views along the Ventura Freeway.

On Tuesday, Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski joined Zeanah in accusing Lazar of acting as the Auto Mall dealers’ advocate. They complained repeatedly at the meeting that Lazar had provided only scanty information to the public and the council about the revised design.

Although the Auto Mall dealers had been ready with their new proposal by late December, they turned in site plans and sketches to the city planning department only hours before Tuesday’s council meeting.

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Turning to Lazar in anger, Zukowski said: “You were privy to information that the public doesn’t know, we don’t know--only you know. Our own staff didn’t even know.”

Lazar said she regretted that the sketches were not available for public viewing until Tuesday afternoon. But she rejected Zeanah’s claim that she was using her council seat to speak for the Auto Mall dealers.

“I’ve been speaking as a council member who tried to achieve a reasonable solution to a sensitive issue,” Lazar said. “We as a council are elected to try to achieve solutions, not to throw stones.”