Costa Mesa council puts off renaming community center after city’s first female mayor

The community center in Lions Park won’t be getting a new moniker just yet after the Costa Mesa City Council decided this week to hold off on naming the facility after Norma Hertzog, the city’s first female council member and mayor.

Though council members seemed in agreement that Hertzog, who served on the council from 1974 to 1986, deserves such an honor, most indicated they favor developing naming guidelines for city buildings first.

They voted 3-2, with Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Councilman John Stephens opposed, to maintain the status quo and direct staff to work on crafting such a policy.

“Much as I really respect Mayor Hertzog, I think we need to give this a little more thought,” Mayor Sandy Genis said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor said he’s “sure former Mayor Hertzog should be recognized” but that he thinks “it would be good to have more of a procedure in place.”

Foley, who brought the idea to the council, seemed taken aback by her colleagues’ reluctance.

“I just don’t understand what the opposition would be,” she said. “This is someone who contributed greatly to our community. She is a historic person in our community and we’re not going to be building any more buildings anytime soon that I’m aware of, so this is an opportunity.”

As part of an ongoing redevelopment project, the city demolished the Neighborhood Community Center in Lions Park last year to make way for a new library. The park’s existing Donald Dungan Library branch will be repurposed as a community center. Dungan was Costa Mesa’s first city attorney, from 1953 until 1966.

Animal shelter

Also on Tuesday, the council voted 4-1 — with member Jim Righeimer opposed — to finalize its denial of a proposal from the Orange County Humane Society to develop an animal shelter at 642 Baker St.

Council members previously expressed concerns with the quality of animal care the organization provides.

City attorney

As this week’s meeting stretched into early Wednesday, council members postponed a scheduled discussion of whether to direct staff to analyze options for filling Costa Mesa’s city attorney position.

The city has contracted with the law firm Jones & Mayer for those services since 2004. Tom Duarte, a partner in the firm, has served as city attorney since 2011.

Stephens, who requested that the item be put on the agenda, said last week that his goal was to “simply study if there is a more efficient and effective alternative for delivering city attorney services to the city of Costa Mesa.”

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