New mayor sails to city’s helm

Newport Beach is “sailing through a century” with a new mayor at the helm. It was no surprise that Don Webb became the new mayor and City Councilman Steve Rosansky became mayor pro tem. Congratulations to both of them, and may they have a smooth sail ahead on waters of glass.

Webb began working for the City of Newport Beach on May 13, 1968, and now, 37 1/2 years later, on Dec. 13, 2005, he became our mayor. It was very apparent, even to us in TV land, that his dream had now come true. He knows the city like the back of his hand, and as our mayor he will make us proud.

What does surprise and intrigue me is the whole process by which the council elects the mayor and mayor pro tem. According to the state’s open-meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, four council members cannot discuss or call each about anything since it is then considered a meeting. It goes back to the old adage that the business of the public needs to be conducted in public. Below is code section 54952.2 from the Brown Act. Take a look for yourself:

“(a) As used in this chapter, ‘meeting’ includes any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body or the local agency to which it pertains. (b) Except as authorized pursuant to Section 54953, any use of direct communication, personal intermediaries, or technological devices that is employed by a majority of the members of the legislative body to develop a collective concurrence as to action to be taken on an item by the members of the legislative body is prohibited.”

So, if you can’t call, e-mail or carrier pigeon three other council members to “develop a collective concurrence,” how does it happen that the City Council can elect our mayor without any reason or explanation to the public as to why the person being nominated would be the best mayor? How do they do that?

The election of our mayor, which happens every year at the last council meeting in December, has become even more fascinating since former Mayor John Heffernan in his closing comments as mayor proposed the idea of the residents voting for the mayor. He suggested that registered voters actually vote, via postcard sent to the city, for mayor and mayor pro tem.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our former mayor, who did an extraordinary job. In less than six months, Heffernan presided over 16 council meetings, with several lasting into the wee hours of the morning. Thank you for a job well done. We hope the next time you are mayor, you’ll receive the full year.

The year 2006 is approaching, and perhaps this will be the year the council decides to video stream the planning commission meetings so people can watch them on computer. Since attending the last meeting of the planning commission, I am more convinced of this.

On the agenda that evening was the public hearing for the Mariner’s Mile gateway project. Located at the corner of Coast Highway and Dover Drive, this project consists of a 56,000-square-foot shopping center, a two-level subterranean parking garage, raised medians, a traffic signal at McDonald’s and the addition of a third lane.

The commissioners heard testimony from the applicant, the 20 consultants and the public for three hours and were cordial to each other and all of us. They had done their homework and asked question after question. Chairman Michael Toerge made his list of technical questions, and he checked it twice with his fellow commissioners before they agreed to continue the hearing until Jan. 5, 2006.

Until next year ... Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Chrismukkah.

* DOLORES OTTING is a regular contributor to Sunday Forum and is a community activist.

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