Expenditures made without City Council approval

In the Oct. 8 Daily Pilot, an article ran regarding my questioning of the policy, protocol and propriety of donations of taxpayer funds made by a Costa Mesa City Council member. These expenditures came out of the council’s Professional Development budget and were made without the knowledge, involvement or approval of any of the other members of the City Council.

The paper later reported that Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Barlow had concluded that there was no impropriety regarding City Councilwoman Katrina Foley’s unprecedented distribution of public funds to various local groups. Oddly, Barlow’s exoneration simply dealt with two different aspects of state law that were never in question and had nothing to do with the current situation.

My sole question has yet to be answered: May a single member of a City Council legally distribute public funds as a donation without full council deliberation and majority approval? California law includes a number of sections in the Constitution, government, finance and penal codes that collectively appear to strongly prohibit this type of action, referring to the act as making a gift of public resources.

It has been implied that the issue is with the council member’s choice of recipients. This could not be further from the truth. Issue has not been taken regarding the beneficiaries of Foley’s largess, as they are certainly all worthy causes. Additionally, several hundred dollars or a couple of thousand dollars won’t break the city treasury. Clearly, these are not the issues at hand.

The real issue is that regardless of city policy or protocol regarding use of these funds, state and federal laws prevail. As elected officials, council members have taken a sworn oath to uphold federal, state and local laws. My goal is to have the City Council adopt policies regarding use of public resources that comply with all pertinent laws. To do anything else would be illegal, not to mention unethical.

* ERIC BEVER is a Costa Mesa city councilman.

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