Council to interview for charter committee

The Huntington Beach City Council will conduct public interviews this afternoon for the city’s upcoming Charter Review Committee, a body proposed by Mayor Keith Bohr that will seek to make a number of changes to city laws.

The seven council members plan to interview 24 applicants for the committee from 3 to 8 p.m. today in room B8 of City Hall. The council plans to select eight members tonight, with each councilman or woman appointing an additional one later for a total of 15 members.

“There hasn’t been a comprehensive charter review in 50 years in Huntington Beach,” said Bohr, who made the committee one of his top priorities when he replaced Debbie Cook as mayor last fall.

Among the laws Bohr hopes the committee will address are Section 612 of the current city charter, which requires a public vote on the construction of any building costing more than $100,000 on a city-owned park or beach. Bohr said the minimum cost should be raised due to inflation.

In addition, he said, some city staff would like to see a review of infrastructure and public works projects, and others have questioned whether Huntington Beach should elect a mayor separately from the City Council.

The Charter Review Committee, which is expected to be officially formed by the council in July, would exist for less than a year and make a number of recommendations to the council, which would in turn put them to voters as ballot measures in 2010.

— Michael Miller