A web of Newport Beach information

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- City Clerk LaVonne Harkless can’t quite remember

whether the city even had a Web site when she started working in City

Hall 5 1/2 years ago.

But one thing’s for sure. Back then, city officials and residents

looking for city documents, such as City Council ordinances, resolutions

and meeting minutes, had to do research the old-fashioned way and leaf

through thick volumes of leather-bound books with yellowing pages.

The originals, dating back to the city’s incorporation in 1906, still

sit on shelves in a vault in Harkless’ office. But information about

almost 95 years of city history can now be accessed with a few clicks of

a computer mouse. City officials and residents alike may now download a

program from Newport Beach’s Web site that allows them to search for

specific words in the database.

Enter the name “John Wayne,” for example. While most hits will pull up

documents concerning John Wayne Airport, there’s one from 1962 that

involves the Duke himself.

Minutes of that year’s July 9 council meeting show that city leaders

approved a pier and slip transfer to Wayne and his wife, Pilar, on East

Edgewater Avenue.

Trivia aside, the guardian of the city’s records said the new system

would also make more serious searches easier.

“It’s just more convenient,” Harkless said Wednesday.

While cities are required by law to keep certain documents forever and

others, such as election petitions, for a certain amount of time,

Harkless said making the documents available on the Internet was just a

decision by city officials.

Other city departments, such as those in charge of police, fire and

building, also use the program to keep their internal records, Harkless

said.

Over the past few years, Harkless and Deputy City Clerks Leilani Brown

and Cathy Fisher scanned hundreds of thousands pages of documents. While

some earlier years still need to be posted on the city’s Web site,

Harkless and her colleagues have completed their work. They also

transferred the information to compact discs that are kept in a safe box

in Tahoe City, Calif., in case an earthquake or fire destroys the

originals in the vault.

A few volumes that had to be cut apart for the scanning returned to

City Hall freshly bound just last week.

Incidentally, those books included Newport Beach’s first ordinance,

dated Sept. 11, 1906, which defined city boundaries, government leaders

and the city’s seal, among other things.

Minutes for the first council meeting on Sept. 3, 1906, reveal that

trustees voted to rent a storeroom as City Hall for $25 a month. They

also set the salary for Harkless’ predecessor at $15 a month, while the

city’s marshal, or police chief, received $50.

The dollar amounts might have changed over time, but the basics still

remain today.

“You see the same issues that continue to repeat themselves,” Harkless

said.

So far, interest in the digital documents has largely been limited to

city officials, Harkless said.

But “we haven’t done a very good job of getting the word out,” she

said, adding that the changes will prevent residents from having to

search documents for hours to find what they need.

FYI

To access Newport Beach documents on the Internet, go to o7

https://www.city.newport-beach.ca.usf7 and click on “Agendas & Minutes.”

The city clerk’s office also has free manuals on how to use the program.

Information: (949) 644-3005.