City officials to take pay cuts

Four members of the Costa Mesa City Council pledged Tuesday night to take a pay cut as a gesture of solidarity with the police officers, firefighters and other city employees who are being asked to take a reduction in their salaries and benefits.

Council members are each paid less than $11,000 a year. Any cut in pay will not have a significant impact on the city’s projected $11-million shortfall, but Mayor Allan Mansoor said it would “set the tone” for more sizable cuts to police, fire and staff budgets.

“If I ask any staffer to take a pay cut I will take the exact same pay cut,” Councilman Eric Bever said.

In addition to Mansoor and Bever, Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley made the same commitment. Foley was exasperated at the suggestion, saying it wouldn’t help solve anything, but made the pledge anyway.

“I’m confident that we’re going to survive this and it’s not the dire situation that has been expressed. I don’t want anyone out here to think this token gesture … is going to make any big impact on the employees that are being asked to take significant cuts in their pay. That affects their families, that affects their livelihood and that affects their ability to pay their bills. This does not affect our ability to pay our bills,” Foley said.

Councilman Gary Monahan did not follow suit and was the only council member not to make the pledge at the meeting.

Mansoor asked for a proposal to cut council pay to be put on the agenda for formal consideration and a vote soon.

TAIWANESE MAYOR TO VISIT NEWPORT BEACH

The mayor of the Taiwanese port Kaohsiung City will visit Newport Beach this weekend to chat with Mayor Ed Selich and cruise around Newport Harbor in a 98-foot yacht.

Jim Lamb, co-founder of MMI Marine, a local yacht parts business, set up the meeting in hopes of fostering goodwill between the cities.

Lamb exports all sorts of yacht parts to Kaohsiung City, in Southern Taiwan, where yacht building is a major industry.

Many of those Taiwanese yachts wind up back in Newport Harbor.

Kaohsiung City officials contacted Lamb to ask if Mayor Chen Chu could visit his company and tour the area during a business trip to Southern California.

“She can come here and see where these boats go and see Newport Beach,” Lamb said. “There are so many boats in this city it’s hard to comprehend. She wanted to see where they end up and it was an opportunity for her to do that.”

Lamb will host Chen and Selich for a dinner Thursday night.

The two mayors also will tour Newport Harbor together in a 98-foot Horizon yacht on Saturday morning.

“Maybe the two cities can cooperate in some way,” Lamb said.

Chen has had a tumultuous political career in Taiwan. She spent six years in prison after she and other opposition leaders were arrested for their role in pro-democracy demonstrations in Kaohsiung in 1979.

Chen also once served as Taiwan’s labor minister, but resigned in 2005 after immigrant Thai workers rioted in Kaohsiung over poor working conditions.

An investigation led to corruption charges against other government officials. Chen was not linked to the scandal, but she stepped down anyway.

Selich could not immediately be reached for comment on the upcoming visit Wednesday.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com. Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.