Eight members named for charter committee

Eight Huntington Beach residents, as well as four alternates, have been chosen for the city’s upcoming Charter Review Committee, a body proposed by Mayor Keith Bohr that will seek to make a number of changes to city laws.

The City Council conducted interviews with more than 20 applicants Monday at City Hall. The eight members chosen were Ralph Bauer, Mark Bixby, Shirley Dettloff, Patrick Brenden, Dave Sullivan, Tim Stuart, Shane Whiteside and Gregory Hartnett, with alternates Richard Hart, Gary Kutscher, Thomas Papademetriou and Dianne Thompson.

Each council member plans to appoint one more resident to the committee, bringing it to a total of 15 members. The full lineup will be announced at the July 6 council meeting, Assistant City Clerk Robin Lugar said.

“There hasn’t been a comprehensive charter review in 50 years in Huntington Beach,� said Bohr, who made the committee one of his top priorities when he replaced Debbie Cook as mayor last fall.

Among the laws Bohr hopes the committee will address are Section 612 of the current city charter, which requires a public vote on the construction of any building costing more than $100,000 on a city-owned park or beach. Bohr said the minimum cost should be raised due to inflation.

In addition, he said, some city staff would like to see a review of infrastructure and public works projects, and others have questioned whether Huntington Beach should elect a mayor separately from the City Council.

The Charter Review Committee, which is expected to be officially formed by the council in July, would exist for less than a year and make a number of recommendations to the council, which would in turn put them to voters as ballot measures in 2010.

— Michael Miller