HUNTINGTON BEACH : Furor Grows Over Leaked Reports, Bids

A furor has erupted in city government over leaked confidential reports and the city attorney’s charges that the city has illegally bypassed competitive bids in about $1.1 million worth of purchases.

Mayor Thomas J. Mays said Thursday that the charges by City Atty. Gail C. Hutton are groundless and that the City Council had looked into Hutton’s accusations and found nothing illegal.

Mays said he thinks that Hutton has now made the charges public to retaliate for an unfavorable report about her written by City Administrator Paul Cook.

“I really think it’s gotten into a political vendetta against Paul Cook,” the mayor said.

Mays said the clash between Cook and Hutton goes back about a month when Hutton unexpectedly presented to a closed-door meeting of the City Council documents questioning the legality of about $1.1 million in city purchases. Hutton’s questions largely concerned lack of competitive bids for some city redevelopment items, including about $625,000 in municipal purchases of mobile homes.

The mobile homes are to replace ones for residents moved from a mobile home park at Pacific Coast Highway near Huntington Street--an area being redeveloped into new hotels.

Cook said Thursday that the city followed routine procedures, “the same as when you’re purchasing vehicles or a piece of equipment,” when it bought the mobile homes without bids. He said the city violated no law when it arranged for non-bid purchases of the other equipment and material questioned by Hutton.

Cook and Mays both said the City Council, after hearing Cook’s explanations of the purchases, found nothing wrong.

“We didn’t think there was any problem, but then the Daily Pilot last week had a story about Paul Cook’s criticism of Gail Hutton in a confidential report, and she got very excited about that,” Mays said.

Mays referred to a confidential report that Cook wrote, at the request of the council, giving his view of all city departments. A copy of that report was leaked to the Daily Pilot.

Mays said he talked to Hutton the day after the newspaper published the story about Cook’s criticism of her office. Mays said Hutton was upset and “she said she was going to go forward with the report (questioning city spending).” Mays added: “Obviously her office leaked that report to the press.”

Assistant City Atty. Robert Sangster said Hutton has not decided whether to refer her accusations about city purchasing procedures to the county grand jury.

“That’s an option,” Sangster said. “Another option is to simply revise the purchasing procedures.”

Sangster said Hutton was home ill Thursday and could not respond to phone calls.

“There is no feud,” Sangster said. “What we have here are two public officials (Hutton and Cook), each with his or her own charter duties to perform. It is not in any way, shape or form a personal feud.”

Cook also denied any personal hostility to Hutton. But he acknowledged that he has criticized how her office operates, being especially critical of delays in processing paper work needed by other city departments.