Tax oversight panel chosen

Former mayor, League of Women Voters head among seven who will oversee Measure A expenditures.The City Council selected seven residents to serve on the Citizens Oversight Committee that will keep tabs on the spending of Measure A funds, a half-cent increase in local sales tax approved by voters in December.

The seven are former Mayor Neil Fitzpatrick, past planning commission and design review board member Greg Vail, retired Director of Municipal Services Terry Brandt, League of Women Voters Chairwoman Linda Brown, Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. board members Edward Petersen and Frank Ricchiazzi, and management consultant Edward A Shaw.

Funds from the temporary increase have been earmarked by the council for repairs to city infrastructure damaged in the June 1 landslide in Bluebird Canyon and to establish an emergency disaster fund.

The seven appointees selected by the council at the Jan. 17 meeting will serve for the complete term of the tax, which is scheduled to expire in six years. The tax may not be extended without a vote of the people, but it can be terminated earlier by the council.

“I would like to reduce the term from six years to four years,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said.

Much will depend on the city’s financial outlay to repair the damage wrought by the June 1 landslide. Once that work is completed, the increase will be diverted to the accumulation of an emergency disaster fund.

Fitzpatrick said that besides rebuilding, the committee should emphasize building a bulwark against future disasters.

Asked why she applied for the committee, Brown, the lone woman selected, said she had supported the tax increase and felt responsible for the way the money is spent.

“I view the committee as an opportunity to provide a service to voters who placed their trust in Measure A to fund landslide repair as well as future disaster preparedness,” she said.

Brandt, who served for 24 years as director of what is now called Public Works and as assistant city manager, was the most experienced of the applicants in the expenditure of funds on local projects. Vail was the only selected applicant who had served on the school district bond oversight committee.

“It was good experience,” Vail said. “The project came in on budget and on schedule.”

Oversight committee actions need to be transparent, open and practical, Vail said.

Petersen, a retired aerospace engineering department program manager, said he applied for the committee because he wanted to monitor the use of the tax money.

“I would like to see at the end of the committee that people say, ‘a job well done’,” said Ricchiazzi, whose experience included a stint at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Fourteen residents applied for the seven-seat committee. Alan Ring withdrew his name prior to the council meeting.

Applicants who were not selected were urged to apply for other committees.