 |
|||||
|
Council wrestles with religious, infrastructure issues
by Jason Dietrich
Tuesday night, sewers and prayer were the main items of discussion on the Redondo Beach City Council's agenda.
City Manager Lou Garcia and the City Council went over the city's five-year plan to replace and repair area streets, sewers, and storm drains. Council and staff wanted to put the infrastructure needs of the city in order so they could fund the most vital projects first.
"Basically it's a sense of priority," said Garcia. The two projects Garcia referred to as the "squishiest," the $9 million Aviation Park renovation and the North Redondo bike path received the most attention from councilmen.
Some of the more high-ticket items, such as the $15 million project to build railroad bridges over area roads, were put on the back burner. But Garcia said some of the ambitious goals laid out in the five-year capital plan were possible.
"We in this city have been traditionally been very conservative in the use of debt," said Garcia, who recommended the council consider trying to fund some of the projects, such as a replacement for the police station, by using bonds.
But the evening's most lengthy discussion revolved around the pre-meeting invocation, a two-minute prayer that is led by a different religious leader per week.
Councilman Bob Pinzler suggested that the clergy who made the pre-meeting invocation be informed of the council's desire to have a non-sectarian prayer. Pinzler also recommended not asking clergy who insisted on calling upon a specific deity to come back.
"This is a place of people of many divers opinions. Each of the clergy that appear here have their own place. This however is a guest appearance before people of diverse views," Pinzler said.
Religious leaders and other council members disagreed with Pinzler.
"If you're going to invite someone to give an invocation, what you're doing is opening the door to someone you respect including their beliefs," said Councilman Gerard Bisignano.
"How do you define sectarian versus non-sectarian. I think a non-sectarian invocation is like having an non-patriotic pledge of allegiance or taking a shower without getting wet," said Councilman Kevin Sullivan.
The council took no action on Pinzler's proposal.
Pinzler also shelved his own proposal to modify the term limit proposal scheduled for this March's municipal election. Currently school board and city council officials are limited to terms in each position. The two initiatives ask voters to allow termed-out council and school board members to run again for office after sitting out a minimum of three years. Pinzler had proposed to give voters a choice of four options. Voters could keep the system the same, remove term limits, approve the three-year sit out rule or extend the two-term limit to all elected officials including the city clerk, city treasurer, and city attorney.
The next meeting of the Redondo Beach City Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., July 18 at the City Hall Council Chambers. The Council plans on continuing its discussion of the projects outlined in its 5-year capital improvement plan.