Garofalo shoots down committee

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Mayor Dave Garofalo offended a room full of

volunteers last week when he barged into a meeting and told them they

were wrong about how to pay for the city’s infrastructure needs,

estimated at a whopping $1.3 billion.

Residents, who had spent more than two years on the infrastructure

committee, slaving over the minutiae of complex financing methods, had

come to the conclusion last Thursday that a bond paid for by taxes

probably would be required to cover the enormous cost of fixing

everything from streets and sewers to sidewalks and storm drains.

“I think that was an affront to the committee,” member Al Bell said

afterward.

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff, who is a liaison to the committee, said

the mayor should have shown more “courtesy.”

“You never prejudge a citizens’ committee,” she said.

The estimated cost for repairs is about $1.3 billion over the next 20

years. The committee is expected to make its final recommendations to the

City Council within the next few months.

But Garofalo, who walked in by surprise three hours into the meeting,

interrupted the committee’s discussion about the bond and strongly hinted

that the council would not accept such a suggestion.

“I’m not sure there’s a great hue and cry to put this on the ballot,” he

said, visibly agitated.

He also gruffly dismissed the committee’s plan to educate the public

about the need for repairs as a pointless attempt to “manipulate their

thought.”

“They either trust us or they don’t,” he said.

About a dozen committee members sat stunned as their hard work seemed to

be flushed down the sewer drain.

“Does that mean we can go home?” Vice Chairman Jerry Chapman asked

facetiously.

Within 15 minutes of his arrival, Garofalo was gone, and the committee

slowly regained its composure. But everyone worried that the council --

as the mayor led them to believe -- had already made up its mind before

the recommendations were completed.

Despite Garofalo’s statements to the contrary, Dettloff promised the

debate on financing is far from over.

“It’s wide open,” she said.

QUESTION

SHOW OF RESPECT?Do you think Mayor Dave Garofalo should have shown more

“courtesy” with the volunteers serving on the city’s infrastructure

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