Felon study nixed

City Councilman Joe Carchio wanted to study what to do with sex offenders in Huntington Beach, probably involving further restrictions on where they could live, such as near day-care centers, or making sure there wasn’t a large concentration of them in one building.

The city would monitor Long Beach, whose government is already debating such measures.

But as it turned out, the city is already keeping an eye on Long Beach, Police Chief Kenneth Small told council members at their Monday meeting. Told his proposal wouldn’t speed anything up if passed, Carchio withdrew it without a vote.

Asked by council members about the situation, Small said the police were already looking at neighboring cities.

“We were in the process of working with Long Beach and monitoring the situation before I spoke to Council member Carchio about it,” he said.

Council members, including Mayor Debbie Cook and Keith Bohr, criticized Carchio for what they called a waste of time.

“The point is our police department is already doing this,” Cook said. “They don’t need further direction to do more of it. That’s really what’s before us...I don’t want to set this precedent.”

Carchio had defended his proposal as a way of keeping ahead of the curve on protecting residents from sex offenders. It was important to be proactive, he said.

“It’s so important we take the proper steps, whatever they are,” Carchio said. “I would never want any of our families have to go through something like that.”

Opposing the vote on procedural grounds shouldn’t be taken as a statement about anyone’s concern for a safe public, Cook said.

“Nobody is in favor of sex offenders,” Cook said.

Monday’s turn of events marked first-term Councilman Carchio’s third initiative in a row that was not passed.

In January, council members narrowly voted down his suggestion to study giving free parking to hybrid and alternative-fuel car owners. Last year, his proposal to temporarily waive fees for residents looking to remodel their homes was also defeated.