 |
|||||
|
"Stopper," Dolan attacks have MB City Council seeing red
by John Tawa
The theme of Tuesday's Manhattan Beach City Council meeting was "stop."
As in stop at city stop signs and traffic signals, and stop verbally attacking City Manager Geoff Dolan's job performance. The former came with the launch of the city's traffic safety awareness campaign, while the latter occurred in connection with a deferred compensation package bestowed upon Dolan as a financial incentive for him to remain city manager.
Traffic safety was the council's first order of business Tuesday night. An ad hoc committee presented a plan to raise awareness about the city's traffic laws. The council in March created the ad hoc committee to design and recommend a citywide traffic safety public education campaign.
The committee's idea encourages Manhattan Beach motorists to "DO STOP, DON'T SPEED" through a clear and simple media-driven message aimed at Manhattan Beach families with children. According to the Manhattan Beach Police Department, the majority of traffic accidents last year were caused by failures to observe speed limits and stop at stop signs and traffic signals.
The centerpiece of the traffic safety campaign is "Stopper," a stop-sign-shaped smiling character who will appear in cable and print ads and be "brought to life" with a costume to make appearances about town reminding children and parents alike of the importance of traffic safety.
The preliminary budget for the campaign is $75,000, which is $25,000 less than the budgeted amount.
"Hopefully, we'll save a life or two," said Mayor pro tem Walt Dougher for an enthusiastic council.
The council approved funds for Stopper's costume, which will take six to eight weeks to create. Final budget authorization for the campaign will occur at a later date.
The council also voted to amend the city manager's employment agreement to give him an incentive to stay in the city. Under the plan, $10,000 will be placed in a trust fund for Dolan every January for the next five years. Dolan gets the money if he is still city manager in 2005, his tenth year with the city.
The vote was 4-1 in favor of the plan. However, approval came only after the city's council watchers came out in force to oppose it. Bill Victor, Viet Ngo and Yury Gurvich all spoke out against the additional compensation, attacking Dolan for everything from the decision to create playfields for children at Marine Avenue Sports Park to the county-sponsored sewer plan that has snarled traffic on Marine Avenue for months.
"I am for the bonus with one condition," Gurvich said. "Receive it today and leave our city. During his tenure, Manhattan Beach did not become better, it became worse."
The city council was quick to defend Dolan and applauded him for what they believed was his fine service to the city.
Councilmember Steve Napolitano voted against the deferred compensation, saying there wasn't enough information to explain why Dolan's added bonus was necessary. However, he stressed that his vote wasn't against the city manager.
"I'm in total agreement that the city is better off because Geoff Dolan is in the city," Napolitano said. ER