BUENA PARK : Council Reappoints Ousted Planning Commissioner

The City Council has reappointed a planning commissioner who lost his seat last summer, inadvertently reigniting controversy over the closing of the city’s Fire Department.

In a 4-1 vote, the council selected Jack Mauller to fill a vacant position on the commission.

The council was still reeling from criticism in July over its decision to close the city Fire Department and contract for those services from the county, when it cut the commission from seven to five members, leaving Mauller without a seat. The other seat eliminated was vacant at the time.

Council members said at the time that Mauller was being cut because he had the least seniority on the commission. The council said it had long wanted to shrink the commission because many larger cities get by with five members.

But Mauller attacked the council members at the time of his decommission, insisting the move was retaliation because the commission had refused to support the council in its controversial decision involving the Fire Department.

“It was a political move on their part,” Mauller said. “It all goes back to the fire issue.”

His wife, Tricia, had resigned from the Beautification/Environmental Committee to protest her husband’s ouster, and the couple had publicly slammed the council members.

Not all on the council supported Mauller’s reappointment.

“I believe that service on a commission is a privilege, not a right,” said Councilman Donald L. Bone, who voted against the reappointment.