CITY HALL
Residents were relatively silent at Tuesday evening’s budget hearing despite citywide spending cuts as high as 7.5% that could significantly affect Glendale’s municipal workforce.
In addition to a long-standing citywide hiring freeze, officials are proposing to eliminate 23 vacant positions, rearrange funding sources and restructure service programs in order to bridge a projected $9.7-million budget gap for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Despite the dire financial constraints, only two people spoke up at the hearing -- community activist Nancy Kent, who asked for a minor concession for nonprofit events at the Central Library, and frequent City Hall critic Mike Mohill, who again railed against city salaries. Still, speakers have shown up at the numerous afternoon study sessions at City Hall in recent weeks, City Manager Jim Starbird said.
A final public hearing on the proposed $164.82-million general-fund budget is scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting, a week before the July 1 deadline.
Longtime City Hall critic Herbert Molano, whose lawsuit against the city over the Downtown Specific Plan ended this week with the California State Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his appeal, vowed Wednesday to push back against any attempt by city attorneys to recoup legal expenses.
City officials on Tuesday announced that the state Supreme Court had declined to hear Molano’s appeal to a lower court’s decision to dismiss his joint-lawsuit against the city over its 2006 Downtown Specific Plan.
Molano said his reason for fighting the city over the planning document was to preserve precious open space downtown, but in doing so, the city racked up a $677,000 legal tab defending itself in court.
The city plans to attempt to recover “as much as possible” of about $29,000 of the recoverable costs from Molano, said Senior Assistant City Atty. Gillian Van Muyden.
The bulk of the $677,000 was spent on outside counsel.
Molano said he would fight the charge, arguing it was a way to bully him and others from challenging the city.
A 12-year-old recovering leukemia patient has found himself at the center of a battle over a proposed two-story house.
