City Embarrassed by $5,000 China, Returns It

Some City Council members said they were embarrassed that the city recently bought $5,000 worth of dishes and cutlery in the midst of a budget crisis, so the city has returned the goods, officials said Wednesday.

Hoping to spruce up the decor at city dinner functions, city officials recently purchased 16 place settings of Lennox china to replace the paper plates and plastic forks that had been used for years.

City officials said the fancy dinnerware was purchased to impress visitors who dine at city-sponsored gatherings. In addition, however, council members before each of their last two meetings have eaten their dinners on the red-and-gold china, officials said.

Considering that the city faces a budget deficit estimated at $4 million, some council members said they were irked by a news report this week that revealed the cost of the plates on which they were eating their pre-meeting meals.

Councilman Don MacAllister said council members and other officials last month had informally discussed buying some more presentable dinnerware, although the council never officially authorized the purchase. Based on those talks, Public Works Director Louis Sandoval--the city official in charge of city culinary preparations--bought the china, MacAllister said.

“Nobody really talked about the cost. We just heard it was bought at a big discount, and nobody really thought about it,” MacAllister said. The $5,000 set was marked down from $9,500, he said.

When he learned those figures, however, “obviously I was very shocked about it,” he said. “Especially in times like these, when budgets are tight. . . . You don’t spend $5,000 on a luxury item when it can be handled” for less money.

On Wednesday, City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga ordered the china settings returned to the department store from which they were purchased.

MacAllister added he believes that the city would be justified in buying less expensive dinnerware as a “classy” way of greeting visitors, such as the contingent from Anjo, Japan, Huntington Beach’s sister city.