Council halts panel funding

Alicia Robinson

The Costa Mesa City Council voted, 3-2, Tuesday to abolish the human

relations committee, after cutting the group’s funding.

Mayor Allan Mansoor, a member of the human relations committee

when he was elected to the council in 2002, made the move to trim the

committee’s funding from the budget in June, and Tuesday he proposed

dissolving the committee completely.

“I simply don’t believe this is a function of government,” Mansoor

said. “I believe it is best handled through private organizations,

working through private means.”

Mansoor gave similar reasoning when the council voted in March to

close the Costa Mesa Job Center.

The human relations committee was formed in 1987 and received

about $3,700 a year for its activities, which included holding an

annual city volunteer recognition event. Its aim was to foster

communication and to reduce prejudice and discrimination in Costa

Mesa.

Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley voted against

abolishing the committee Tuesday. Mansoor and Councilmen Gary Monahan

and Eric Bever voted to disband it.

Before Mansoor proposed the cuts, Dixon volunteered to be the

committee’s liaison and proposed restoring funding to the committee.

“I believe Costa Mesa is a very, very diverse community and that

we need a human relations committee to move forward with ideas and

events that will benefit all of Costa Mesa,” Dixon said.

Mansoor has said no council members want to serve as liaison to

the committee. Councilwoman Katrina Foley was appointed liaison, but

she declined due to another commitment.

She said Monday that, in some cases, council liaisons haven’t

attended their committees’ meetings for up to three years.

“If that is the issue, I would be happy to serve as the council

liaison, with the knowledge that I can’t attend the meetings,” she

said Monday.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Mansoor said he didn’t know much about

the committee when he signed up for it in 2002.

“At that point I was just trying to find out more about city

government and get involved,” he said.

Several at the meeting asked the council not to disband the human

relations committee; none spoke in favor of nixing it.

Human relations committee member Dennis Short criticized the

decision to cut the panel’s funding without notice.

“We feel that Mayor Mansoor made a very abrupt decision, and we

feel that it was insensitive and disrespectful to us,” he read from a

letter.

“We can make a difference if you’ll let us continue our work, and

we would be glad to continue even if we are not funded,” Short read.

About half a dozen other cities in Orange County have human

relations groups, including Anaheim, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana,

said Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human

Relations Commission.