Propositions to Decide Fate of Civic Center, Costly Public Projects

Lawndale residents will vote on two ballot measures that will decide whether to expand the city’s civic center and whether voter approval should be required for other major public projects.

Proposition A, placed on the ballot by the City Council, is a plan for a major remodeling of the civic center, including a new community center, City Hall expansion, added parking and landscaping, plus a county-financed library and health center.

Mayor Sarann Kruse and councilmen Terry W. Birdsall, Larry Rudolph and Dan M. McKenzie argued in the sample ballot that the civic center remodeling is much needed and could be financed without new taxes. The city would finance 80% of it through the sale of bond-like instruments called certificates of participation, with the balance paid by county funds.

A ‘Blank Check’

Opponents Nancy J. Marthens, Herman Weinstein and Virginia Rhodes contend that the measure amounts to a “blank check” because it does not contain specific details on the size and cost of the project.

The expected $5-million cost is mentioned in the city attorney’s analysis on sample ballot pamphlets, but is not specified in the ordinance on the ballot itself. The county would contribute about $1 million for the library and health center.

Proposition B, an initiative that qualified for the ballot with 976 signatures, would require voter approval for public projects costing more than $1 million.

Councilman Harold E. Hofmann joined Marthens, Weinstein and Rhodes in writing the argument for Proposition B, which states that voters should be allowed to approve major public expenditures.

Kruse and Birdsall wrote the opposing argument, which states that the measure would tie the hands of elected officials and delay decision-making on major projects. “This measure is a ploy by those negative elements in our community that feel that no government facilities are ever justifiable,” they wrote.

Both measures have been the subject of several lawsuits filed by challengers in the April 12 race for the mayor’s and three City Council seats.

Marthens said the lawsuits are necessary to force the city to put accurate ballot language before the voters, while the city attorney said the suits are politically motivated by candidates seeking to oust the incumbents.

4 Possible Combinations

City Atty. David J. Aleshire said the City Council can proceed with the proposed civic center in all but one of the four possible combinations of votes on the two measures.

Only if the civic center plan (Proposition A) fails and the initiative requiring voter approval for projects costing more than $1 million (Proposition B) wins would the city be barred from building the civic center, he said.

If both propositions receive a majority vote, the council can proceed with the civic center, he said, and if A wins and B fails, the council also could proceed.

If both A and B fail, Aleshire said, the council legally could go ahead with the project because the voter approval measure would not be in effect. But as a practical matter, the council is unlikely to do so if voters reject the civic center plan, he said.