COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP

WHAT HAPPENED: The City Council voted Tuesday to raise

firefighters’ salaries by about 3.5%.

The city and the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. are in the first year

of a four-year agreement that began in July and expires in June 2004.

City officials and firefighters union representatives met in August to

discuss salaries.

WHAT IT MEANS: The raises will cost the city $212,640 in salaries

and $94,060 in salary-related benefits, according to a staff report.

The new salaries, if passed, will be adjusted between now and March

when total compensation is calculated.

VOTE: 5 IN FAVOR / 0 AGAINST

WHAT HAPPENED: The council appointed 10 residents to the Fairview

Park Friends/Fund-raising Committee.

The at-large committee members are Marylane Graham, Timothy Cromwell,

Stella Hacker, Doug Sutton and Lawrence Courter.

Committee members representing groups include Joe Bogden, for the

Costa Mesa Bark Park Foundation; Shirley Willard, for ReLeaf Costa Mesa;

Roger MacGregor, for the Harbor Soaring Society; Mary Ellen Goddard for

the Costa Mesa Historical Society; and Robert Platfoot for Orange County

Model Engineers.

WHAT IT MEANS: The committee will give input on the development of

the park, as well as help raise money for the park’s development.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan will be the council representative to the

committee, with Councilwoman Linda Dixon as the alternate.

WHAT THEY SAID: “It’s important to have people who care deeply

about Fairview Park, such as groups that use it all the time, to make

sure that the park is developed in a way that people feel good about it

and use it,” said Councilman Joe Erickson.

VOTE: 5 IN FAVOR / 0 AGAINST

WHAT HAPPENED: City Atty. Jerry Scheer wrote a report responding to

parks commissioner Mike Scheafer’s resignation last month.

Scheafer said he resigned because Scheer’s office issued a

recommendation in January that Scheafer abstain from voting on a skate

park issue. Scheafer said he did not find out about the recommendation

until August.

WHAT IT MEANS: Scheafer had written a letter published in the Daily

Pilot opposing a City Council decision on the location of the park, and

had also put his name on a letter to the City Council urging it to

reconsider its decision.

Scheer’s office analyzed the situation and decided Scheafer’s actions

did not legally require him to abstain, but came close, according to the

report.

Scheafer himself made the final decision to abstain from voting, the

report states.

WHAT THEY SAID: “The fact [that Scheafer] actually did speak his

mind on the skate park’s location when the issue next came before the

commission shows he certainly was not intimidated into not speaking out,”

Scheer’s report states. “His subsequent voluntary resignation was

certainly not sought by me, nor was it even suggested or hinted at. It

would have been consistent with my advice if, instead of resigning,

[Scheafer] would have abstained from further commission decisions on the

skate park and, as a private citizen, would have continued to speak out

on his opinions about the park and continued to serve on the parks

commission.”

NEXT MEETING : The Costa Mesa City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 18 at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.