New Inglewood Mayor Inherits a Long List of Budget Problems

When Roosevelt F. Dorn starts his new job as mayor of Inglewood on April 20, he will have a long list of budget problems to solve.

Because residents Tuesday voted down four tax measures that would have generated $4.7 million in revenue, the city is facing a $7-million shortfall next year in its $60-million generalfund budget, part of the city’s $158-million overall budget.

“We’ll have to make some adjustments in the city and those adjustments could be very drastic,” said Dorn, who is stepping down as a Superior Court judge to take his new $94,500-a-year post.

Assistant City Manager Norm Cravens said Wednesday that the cuts will most likely come in city services, such as reducing library hours, cutting back on graffiti removal and park maintenance or shrinking the city payroll.

Dorn said one of his top priorities will be to find a new administrator to replace City Manager Paul Eckles, who retired Monday after working for Inglewood for 21 years. The new mayor, who defeated three other candidates with 62.2% of the vote, also wants to quickly fill the vacancy created when Inglewood Police Chief Oliver Thompson resigned in February.

In other election results, Judy Dunlap barely avoided a runoff election by garnering 50.3% of the vote to retain her seat representing District 2 on the five-member City Council.

However, a runoff election for the District 1 seat will be held June 3 between Jerome Horton and Gloria Gray, the top two vote-getters among nine candidates. Horton, an audit manager with the State Board of Equalization, received 24% of the vote and Gray, president of the Inglewood Unified School Board, tallied 16%.

Only one of three school board positions up for election was decided. Incumbent Thomasina Reed, an attorney, won 52.7% of the vote for Seat 1. A runoff election will be held for Seat 2 between Eveline Ross, an administrative assistant, and incumbent Larry Aubry. A runoff for Seat 3 will be held between Leonard Ross, a Los Angeles police sergeant, and Alice Grigsby, a community college librarian. Incumbent Dexter Henderson finished fifth among the seven candidates.