Locked office key to City Hall spat

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- In what may be his most controversial decision to date

as mayor, John Noyes has locked fellow council members out of his tiny

City Hall office.

“I guess there’s no more open-door policy at City Hall,” quipped former

mayor Tom Edwards.

Councilwoman Norma Glover -- the only council member who regularly uses

the mayor’s office for meetings -- tried to get city officials to unlock

the door, but they said they were unable to do anything about Noyes’

decision. She was told to resolve the issue with Noyes directly. She said

she hasn’t spoken with him yet about sharing.

The mayor’s office -- once dubbed the “mayor’s closet” -- has always been

available for council members to hold meetings as long as anyone at City

Hall can remember.

“It’s really the City Council’s office,” said Glover, adding that holding

three or four meetings each week in her home feels unprofessional.

But Noyes isn’t handing over the key. He says he has so many meetings

that working around a schedule for the office would be burdensome. He

also said there are four or five conference rooms readily available for

meetings.

“I don’t see it as an issue,” Noyes said. “It’s so petty. There are so

many real issues.”

Inside the coveted office is a government-issue desk, a filing cabinet

and a couple chairs.

Councilwoman Jan Debay, a former mayor who shared her office,

nevertheless supported Noyes’ decision.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” Debay said. “He doesn’t

want to turn his jewelry store into an office. The two days his store is

closed are when he has meetings.”

Former Mayor Dennis O’Neil, another office-sharer, also backed Noyes.

“I believe the mayor has the discretion and prerogative to have an

office,” he said. “There’s a great deal of meetings and scheduling the

mayor is involved with. I don’t have a problem with the mayor having a

mayor’s office.”

Still, other former mayors were surprised to learn Noyes had staked

exclusive claim to the office.

“I never remember even having a locked drawer in that room,” said former

mayor Evelyn Hart.

Edwards remembered, “Clarence Turner and I used to joke that the room was

so small that you had to go outside to change your mind.”

And Turner admitted, “I never had the key.”

The real reason behind the dispute could be that Noyes and Glover seem to

get along about as well as George W. Bush and John McCain.

“I don’t know what their relationship is,” O’Neil said. “I guess it’s

been rough over the years.”

In late 1996, when the council was deciding who would be mayor and vice

mayor, Glover accused Noyes and another councilman of being sexist.

Two years later, Noyes called for Glover’s resignation, saying she had

abused her authority as a council member in the aftermath of former City

Manager Kevin Murphy’s forced resignation.

“They all get mayor-itis,” Glover said, adding that O’Neil was the only

council member not to suffer from the ailment. “Next November, we’ll have

a new mayor and I can use the office again.”