San Gabriel to Foot Bill for Vice Mayor’s Car Telephone

SAN GABRIEL — Static over Vice Mayor Frank Blaszcak’s $2,100 portable telephone cleared up Tuesday when the City Council agreed to pay for what the outspoken member called “a necessary evil.”

But, preoccupied with zoning and planning discussions, the council took no action on another disputed issue: whether to allow Blaszcak to retain his key to City Hall.

Throughout the four-hour meeting, members of the standing-room-only audience of about 125 alternately chastised and backed Blaszcak for billing the city for the phone, its installation costs and monthly fees.

After close to an hour of discussion, only Mayor John Tapp voted against a measure stipulating that all material purchases for council members in excess of $200 must be approved by the full council. Councilman Ted Anderson drafted the measure to exclude purchases--including the phone--made before Tuesday’s meeting. The council agreed that the city will also pay for all monthly charges for the phone.

Failed to Address Phone Issue

Tapp said he voted against the measure because it failed to directly address Blaszcak’s new phone, which he said should have been returned.

In other actions, the council approved an $85,121 contract with Willdan Associates, a planning firm in the City of Industry, to revamp the city’s General Plan. The contract calls for 10 public workshops and the establishment of a citizens advisory committee.

The council also approved a revision of the city’s building moratorium, which clarifies the measure’s zoning requirements and permits property owners to appeal to the council for exemption from the moratorium.

But the phone fracas captured most of the attention and drew most of the crowd Tuesday.

It was an odd turn of events for San Gabriel, a city of 30,000 that has jumped forcefully onto the slow-growth, government-for-the-people bandwagon during the last year. Four of the five current council members, including Blaszcak and Tapp, were swept into office through the support of Citizens for Responsible Development and have been seen as allies.

The city is seven months through a controversial yearlong building moratorium mandated by voters last January and strongly supported by the new council members.

With the city still adapting to those changes, Blaszcak’s phone expenses provided fodder for renewed barbs from residents accusing city leaders of misdirected priorities and mismanagement and provoked a split between Tapp and Blaszcak.

“It’s abuse and an extreme breach of the trust people put in someone when they hold a public office,” said Helen Achilles, a former council member and mayor in 1966-68 and 1978-80. “My God, I was in office for years here. Anyone who says you can’t run San Gabriel without a car phone doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

Achilles demanded that Blaszcak be forced to pay the phone bills and, barring that, should resign or be recalled from office.

A few people, mostly leaders of Citizens for Responsible Development, rose repeatedly to approve of Blaszcak’s new phone. They pointed out that it could be an essential communications tool in a major earthquake.

Blown Out of Proportion

Blaszcak accused Tapp and the press of blowing the phone dispute out of proportion while ignoring more important issues.

Assembling the portable phone on the desk in front of him as debate over it began, Blaszcak, a public affairs director for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, said he needed access to a phone during the day to keep up with his elected duties. His agency prohibits employees from making personal calls on county phones, he said.

“I’m willing to serve my community, but not at the expense of losing my job or facing criminal charges,” Blaszcak said. “The council responsibilities are awesome.”

Blaszcak said he can carry the phone from his car into his office, where he can use it to return and answer city-related calls during free time. He said he removed his own cellular telephone, which he also displayed at the meeting, from his car to make room for the new one.

“I’m not standing on bended knee asking for this,” Blaszcak said. “I’m trying to do my job.”

Blaszcak said he decided the city should pay for his portable phone only after City Administrator Robert D. Clute sent him a memorandum asking if he wanted a cellular phone.

But Clute said he sent the memorandum to all council members in response to questions from Blaszcak over whether a phone could be purchased without council approval.

Most Declined Phone

All council members except Blaszcak declined a phone, Clute said.

Blaszcak told the council the phone cost $1,400, plus a $400 installation charge, and said his personal monthly cellular phone charges had rarely exceeded $60.

However, the bill Blaszcak submitted to the city showed charges of $1,750 for the phone and installation into his Mercedes-Benz and an additional $350 charge for installation in his pickup truck. According to purchase documents, the phone also carries a monthly $45 access charge plus 45 cents per minute for any calls Blaszcak makes.

The first regular bill, which covers June 7-14, was for $106.93, which includes the first $45 access charge and fees for individual calls.

Tapp said he first learned of Blaszcak’s phone purchase two weeks after it was installed in June. “I don’t see it as a personality contest or conflict; I see it only as a matter of budgetary concern,” he said in opposition to the purchase. “All council members should be on equal footing.”

Combination of 2 Measures

After passing the purchase-approval measure, the council passed another measure limiting members’ monthly expenses to $150 and the mayor’s to $200. City Administrator Clute said Blaszcak’s monthly phone charges will not be deducted from this expense account.

Tapp said he hoped the combination of the two measures would prevent personal expenditures from escalating into such a public dispute.

The council joked about Blaszcak’s use of a key to enter City Hall at night, when he has unwittingly set off burglar alarms, but took no action. Tapp had complained last week that the city “never had a policy of councilmen owning keys.” No other council member has a key, Tapp said.

Blaszcak contended that, because of his schedule, he can only pick up his mail and other materials from City Hall at night. “The city manager’s secretary gave me a key so I could come in and pick up the materials,” he said.