Councilman Curry removed as chairman of Newport Finance Committee
Council members yelling over one another unintelligibly and the sound of the wooden gavel pounding the dais provided the soundtrack to the Newport Beach City Council’s discussion Tuesday about whether to remove Councilman Keith Curry as chairman of the city Finance Committee.
After a discussion that at several points disintegrated into Curry and Mayor Diane Dixon talking over each other, the council voted 4-2 to remove Curry as chairman of the committee, a position he has held off and on for 10 years. Curry and Councilman Ed Selich dissented. Councilman Tony Petros abstained.
The council tapped Petros to take over as Finance Committee chairman.
Curry will remain on the advisory panel but will no longer run its meetings. Petros, Dixon and four appointed residents make up the rest of the seven-member committee, which reviews the city budget and advises the council on financial matters.
The issue came to a head when Councilman Scott Peotter asked the city manager to place an item on Tuesday’s agenda requesting that the City Council replace Curry as chairman of the Finance Committee or remove him from the panel altogether.
Peotter alleges that Curry has blocked committee members from adding items to the agenda for discussion and prevented them from thoroughly reviewing budget documents.
Peotter also said meeting times have been irregular, with several canceled and rescheduled, which he said resulted in his first appointee resigning because his calendar wasn’t flexible enough.
“On top of that, he felt like he couldn’t get anything done because the chairman, in this case Councilman Curry, controls the agenda and he wasn’t allowing other committee members to add items, and he was also stifling the discussion of alternatives,” Peotter said. “This is supposed to be a working committee, and it’s not working.”
Curry said Peotter was calling for his removal because Curry opposed a proposal that the city look into putting surplus money into a 115 trust — a type of tax-free investment that government agencies make — to help cover a portion of its unfunded pension liability. The liability is the difference between what the city owes in retirement benefits and what it has set aside to fund them.
Curry has called the proposal “financially illiterate.”
“I intend to continue to fight and speak up against financially reckless proposals that can put millions in taxpayer dollars at risk,” Curry said after the meeting.
Dixon said Curry has “bullied, belittled and dismissed suggestions of other committee members.”
“Our citizens do not volunteer to the city to be insulted by Councilman Curry,” she said. “This type of behavior is unacceptable.”
As Curry tried to discuss the trust proposal, which is expected to be debated by the Finance Committee at a later meeting, Dixon said the policy issue wasn’t relevant to his removal as chairman.
Dixon and Curry began to yell over each other.
“We’re one vote away from crazy town in this city,” Curry said.
Petros, the new committee chairman, said he expects all members of the group to work together in a civil manner.
“This is a very charged moment right now,” Petros said. “I expect civil behavior when we meet, and if that’s not the case, then I, as the chair, would be compelled to halt the meeting or excuse the person who is creating the disturbance.”
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Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
