San Gabriel Valley : Panel Will Ask Council to Abolish Pasadena Water Project Committee

Within the next few weeks, the Pasadena Business Enterprise Committee is expected to make a recommendation to the City Council that, according to at least one committee member, “no one will like.”

Faced with the task of solving the infighting that has plagued the board of directors of the Hahamonga Watershed Park, a park and water reclamation project, the committee decided it will recommend that the council ask 10 of the 11 board members to resign voluntarily, said committee chairman Bill Crowfoot.

One member appointed by a separate entity outside the city will not be asked to resign.

It is likely the recommendation will be adopted because three City Council members sit on the committee, said Councilman Paul Little, a committee member. But public outcry has been strong to abolish the Hahamonga Operating Co., the nonprofit company that oversees the 300-acre park’s development.

The committee voted against dismantling the company, and said it hopes that appointing a new board of directors can solve the “public shoving match” that has been almost ongoing since the project started two years ago, Crowfoot said. The committee would like to see the selection of a new board that will “have more accountability for progress” of the project, Little said.

Until that board is appointed, the City Council would be expected take over the responsibilities of overseeing the Hahamonga Operating Co.