WHAT HAPPENED: The City Council approved hiring...

WHAT HAPPENED:

The City Council approved hiring a finance advisor for as much as

$100,000 to assist in issuing bonds for property tax refunds.

Craig Hoshijima, from the firm Public Financial Management, was

chosen as the financial advisor. He will advise and assist the city

in developing and executing the financing plan.

Council members Pam Julien Houchen and Gil Coerper were absent.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The city has to pay as much as $27 million in refunds for a tax it

collected illegally to help pay employee benefits.

At a meeting on Nov. 3, 2003, the City Council approved the use of

bonds to fund the property tax override refunds. Since then, staff

has been working to assemble a consultant team to assist the city in

issuing bonds. The team will include a financial advisor, a bond

counsel, an underwriter and a trustee.

Hoshijima has 13 years of public finance experience and has served

as a lead finance advisor for San Bernardino County, Oceanside and

Los Angeles on similar bonds.

WHAT HAPPENED:

The mayor introduced Miss Huntington Beach and her court.

WHAT IT MEANS:

Ruth Stainer, 17, was crowned Miss Huntington Beach at the annual

pageant on Feb. 14. Annalisa Abbs, a 23-year-old singer and Azusa

Pacific University student majoring in communications, was first

runner-up and Erin Britt, 20, a dancer and criminal justice major at

Orange Coast College, was second runner-up was honored by Mayor Cathy

Green at Monday’s City Council meeting.

The pageant, presented by the Women of Action of the Huntington

Beach Chamber of Commerce, was held at the Huntington Beach High

School auditorium on Valentine’s Day.

The 16 candidates, who attend local high schools as well as Golden

West and Orange Coast colleges, were judged in interview, talent,

swimwear and formal wear. Each contestant also had a platform issue.

Judges chose Miss Huntington Beach for her poise and confidence

and for a remarkable dance performance, in which she held a

tambourine high above her head and tapped it with her foot in time to

the music. She will go on to represent Surf City at the Miss

California-America Pageant in June. The state winner will compete in

the fall for the Miss America title in Atlantic City, N.J.

WHAT HAPPENED:

The Kiwanis club gave the city $3,000 to be used for the Ole’

Fishing Hole Derby.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The Huntington Beach Kiwanis Club presented a check Monday for

$3,000 to recreations supervisors Dottie Hughes and John Valinsky.

The money will be put toward the city’s annual Ole’ Fishing Hole

Derby and the Friday Night Funtime Dance.