YORBA LINDA : Wedaa Bows Out on Warm Note

Outgoing City Councilman Henry W. Wedaa took his leave gracefully Tuesday night, using his last 30 minutes as councilman to reflect fondly on his 24 years on the council and ignoring the recent acrimony that existed between himself and several other council members.

The bitterness was evident when three of the council members denied Wedaa the chance of being mayor in his last year in office.

Wedaa, 70, talked Tuesday about what the city was like in the “good old days.”

“When I moved here, there were 6,500 residences; Yorba Linda was the ideal small town,” Wedaa said. “Yorba Linda Boulevard ended at the Methodist church on Ohio, and it was orange groves past that.”

Wedaa said he had two goals while on the council. One was to maintain low density and the other was to prevent a freeway from running through town.

Wedaa also reflected on his controversial leadership of the Southern California Air Quality Management District.

“I was under attack for seven years,” Wedaa said. “Environmentalists said I was too easy and businesses said I was too tough. But I tried to strike some kind of balance. When everyone’s a little bit unhappy, that’s about where it ought to be. The bottom line is, you are all breathing cleaner air, and that’s something I can take with me.”

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Gene Wisner and John M. Gullixson were sworn in as new members. The new council elected Daniel T. Welch to serve as mayor and Gullixson to serve as mayor pro tem.

The two will serve until next December.