Councilman: Newport should get unused El Toro money

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- As city leaders nail down a deal with South County to

ban the use of public dollars in the Measure W battle, one councilman is

calling for the return of an unspent pot of grant money.

City Councilman John Heffernan says he’d like to see the city get the

unused portion of the council’s March 13 grant of $3.67 million to the

Airport Working Group for a public-information campaign on airport

issues.

The money could be returned under the provisions of the grant and in

line with the agreement approved by the council and South County cities.

Both sides agreed this week to brake public spending on airport issues

until after the March 5 election.

“The only logical thing would be for it to come back,” Heffernan said.

“It seems to me they ought to give it back.”

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which sued the city on July 27,

unanimously approved the settlement at its Wednesday meeting and agreed

to drop a lawsuit alleging the two groups misspent the grant money.

Grant recipients weren’t quick to offer promises that they would send

back what could amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

The grant was handed to the Airport Working Group and Citizens for

Jobs and the Economy. Bruce Nestande, the president of the latter group,

said he planned to spend the money after the election.

“After Measure W passes, we will return to public outreach,” Nestande

said. “They haven’t asked for the money back yet.”

The money was given to the two groups as a close-ended grant, with no

city oversight about how it could specifically be spent, said Dennis

Danner, the city’s finance director. The city paid out the last of the

money in December.

Dave Ellis, spokesman of the Airport Working Group, said he would work

with council members to resolve the issue.

Ellis cited a confidentiality clause of the settlement, saying he

could not reveal precisely how much grant money has been spent so far.

“We’re real serious about upholding the terms of the agreement,” Ellis

said. “We’ll be working with the council on this.”

Councilman Gary Proctor said he was confident the issue could be

resolved. The groups would bend to the city’s wishes, if asked, Proctor

said.

“The city’s not in the business of giving away taxpayer money,”

Proctor said. “They will return the money if there’s no reason to spend

it.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .