ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Irvine Group Delays Effort to Remove Top City Officials : Recall: Residents will await results of a probe into fiscal debacle. They contend municipal leaders failed to monitor county investment.

A group of residents angry at city officials for placing $209 million in the collapsed county investment pool decided to hold off on plans to recall some City Council members until an independent investigation into the crisis is completed.

About 50 people turned out for Friday night’s inaugural meeting of a group called the Coalition for Public Responsibility, which was formed in response to the city’s mounting financial woes.

The residents expressed outrage at city officials but decided not to take immediate action. Instead, they will wait for the result of Price Waterhouse investigation into the city’s investment policies and the actions of officials.

Councilman Greg Smith, who attended the group’s meeting, urged residents to be patient.

“I don’t think we can move ahead based on the information we have now and just say, ‘People have to go,’ ” Smith said. “May they have to go? Yeah, they just may.”

The meeting was punctuated by residents’ complaints that the city officials failed to monitor their investment in county pool.

Irvine resident Gary Kingsbury, a former Democratic congressional candidate who formed the coalition, said he was moved to action by what he considered the city’s unresponsiveness in the face of the financial crisis.

He called for the firing of top city officials and vowed Friday to “turn up the heat” if action isn’t taken soon.

While the Irvine Unified School District was quick to recognize the seriousness of the bond debacle and stressed the need for cutbacks, Kingsbury said the city officials have been unresponsive in answering questions from the public.

“The city still hasn’t gotten over their denial,” he said. “We’re still at Step 1 with the city.”

City officials have defended their response to the crisis and said it is wrong to compare the actions of the city and the school district. Smith, a former school board member, said that while the school district had all its money in the pool, the city’s portfolio is much more diverse. The city has $80 million in the state treasury.

“This is an apples-and-oranges comparison,” Smith said. The city “has the luxury to sit back and not take action in a quick and panicked way. In the long run, we’ll be better off.”

Smith and others noted that city officials, notably City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr., have been working feverishly since the crisis for the return of 100% of the city’s investments in the pool. Brady has emerged as a leading spokesman for cities with money in the pool.

“We probably are in a better position (than any other city) in terms of having an impact on the process because of Paul’s leadership,” Smith said.

Irvine Mayor Michael Ward and others have accused Kingsbury of “political opportunism,” saying he is using the county’s fiscal crisis to gain name recognition for some future political campaign. Others have said that some members of the coalition are longtime city critics.

Kingsbury, a 43-year-old business and education training consultant, was the Democratic nominee for the 47th Congressional District last November, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach).