City’s past still haunts council

The last defendant in the condo-scam trial that sent former Huntington Beach Mayor Pam Houchen to prison has now agreed to pay $1.75 million to avoid prison time, according to federal prosecutors.

But Huntington Beach officials differed on how well the city has moved on since eight people were indicted in December 2004.

“The city’s had no problems in moving on,” said Mayor Gil Coerper, one of four council members still in office since that time. “Just like anything else, when there’s a problem, you resolve it and move forward. You make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Councilwoman Jill Hardy, also in office at the time, had a different perspective. She said the damage of having more than 120 illegal condo conversions remains.

“No, it isn’t over,” she said. “We lost a lot of affordable housing and apartment units, and the city’s still trying to work that out.”

Howard Richey, 82, was convicted in September on 14 counts of mail and wire fraud for signing fraudulent documents to illegally convert apartments into condominiums.

His sentencing hearing has been postponed until May 21 to give him time to pay the 1.75 million. In return, prosecutors now recommend he be sentenced to two years of home confinement, rather than the up to 40 years behind bars.

Judge David O. Carter sentenced Houchen to 37 months in federal prison last September; she pleaded guilty to eight counts of mail and wire fraud in 2005.

One thing no amount of sentencing can affect is the mistrust council members say they sometimes face.

“We still get comments from members of the public that show it affects our reputation,” Hardy said.

“There’s still that aura. Most of us don’t break the law, but when you have two convicted mayors in your history, it hurts the reputation of everybody else.”

Coerper said regaining that trust was the job of all the council members.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” he said. “There will certainly be a lot of skepticism over City Council. What you have to do is show the public that you are a trustworthy person; that’s the way I look it.”