Removal of 2 From Council Doesn’t End Rift in City : Politics: Hard feelings persist after voters recall Mayor Audrey Hon and Councilman Thomas Melbourn. The city will be governed by 3 remaining members until election in April.

BRADBURY —  The recall drives that ousted Bradbury Mayor Audrey Hon and Councilman Thomas Melbourn from office this week were intended to restore public confidence in government, but comments from residents indicate it may take some time for the tiny city’s wounds to heal.

Voters in Hon’s district ousted her by 58 to 38 votes, while those in Melbourn’s district recalled him by merely one vote, 35 to 34, according to a count of the Nov. 2 ballots certified by the county Monday and adopted by the city in two resolutions Tuesday.

Launched in the wake of accusations that former City Manager Aurora (Dolly) Vollaire misspent more than $80,000 in public funds, the recalls have created a rift in a city where old-time residents form deep allegiances.

“When we meet people in passing, even in cars on the street, we roll down our windows and exchange words, and it’s invariably about Audrey and how she’s gotten a raw deal,” said 30-year Bradbury resident Helen Vida. “I don’t think things will ever really be the same. They can’t be.”

Donald L. Burnett, president of the Woodlyn Lane Assn. and organizer of Hon’s recall, said he regrets the hard feelings and divisions that the recall drive has generated. But he said supporters of Hon are standing by her out of friendship, rather than evaluating her performance as mayor.

“No one is attacking her for not being a good person. We’re saying in effect that she has not done a good job for the city,” Burnett said.

The city’s five-member council routinely approved Vollaire’s expenditures on the city credit card and from the petty cash and other accounts for items that included fine china and designer sunglasses. While Vollaire submitted some receipts--many of them cut to remove the vendor name--to back up her purchases, no one ever checked the receipts, city officials said.

In her capacity as mayor, Hon signed the checks and approved the final list of checks at the end of each month. Vollaire, who was city manager for two decades and also served as city clerk, planning director and finance director, added many checks to the lists after the full council had reviewed them.

A district attorney’s investigation into Vollaire’s use of city funds is continuing, and the city has sued her in civil court for restitution.

Vida said former mayors and council members committed the same oversights as Hon, out of habit and trust. If blame had to be placed, it should have been placed on the entire council, she said.

“This is the way they did things,” Vida said. “There wasn’t any attempt to underwrite Dolly Vollaire’s practices. . . . We all feel let down by Dolly Vollaire, but not because of Audrey Hon or Tom Melbourn.”

Hon was out of town and unavailable for comment. She has denied any knowledge of Vollaire’s spending practices.

Melbourn said he will step down with no grudges.

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“It’s over,” Melbourn said. “Now I can go on with all the other activities I’m involved in. I’m not going to be sitting at home. Hopefully we can put all this behind us and move forward. We keep dredging up the same ghosts and dragons, and I don’t know if that’s ever going to go away, no matter who is on the council.”

This year has been rocky for Bradbury.

Vollaire was fired after Bradbury resident Robert Penney Jr. uncovered evidence that she was misusing the city credit card. He had already complained publicly that county taxpayers had paid for private guards for the elite enclave of Bradbury Estates for a decade, funneling half a million dollars to a special tax district set up to provide the guard service. The council dissolved the tax district in March.

Those disclosures were followed by yet another scandal, the revelation that the salaries of current City Clerk Claudia Vestal and a former employee were paid improperly by the Mid-Valley Manpower Consortium, a federally funded job training program, for years. The city should have picked up part of the salaries during the employees’ first two years, and then paid their full salaries, county and federal officials say.

Hon served on the Mid-Valley board while Vestal was on the payroll, part of the time as chairwoman, and some residents say she should have known something was awry.

“I am sorry that we didn’t have a landslide, because clearly on the issue of the (Mid-Valley) Manpower Consortium alone, she did not deserve to stay in office,” Burnett said.

No recall drives were initiated by residents of the city’s other three council districts, but Burnett said many people believed that the blame should have been shared with the other council members.

Voters also opted Nov. 2 to replace Hon and Melbourn by election, to be held in April, rather than by appointment, leaving the city to be governed by a three-member council until then.

The remaining council members must cast unanimous votes on many issues that by law require a three-vote majority, or risk paralyzing city business.

Three votes are required for the approval of all demands and warrants, all ordinances, and adoption of a resolution of a General Plan, City Atty. C. Edward Dilkes said.

“In Bradbury, those types of votes have been unanimous in the past,” said City Manager Keene N. Wilson, who added that the revised General Plan was adopted Monday by the Planning Commission and goes before the three-member council Dec. 21.

It also appears that two council members would constitute a majority, and any meeting between them would be subject to open meeting laws that mandate the public be notified ahead of time, Dilkes said.