Laguna Beach Ca Government Officials

Since the liberal, environmentally minded City Council majority that guided the city for more than a decade was replaced in December by more conservative leaders, a number of residents have wondered how council priorities are likely to change. At last week's City Council meeting, they may have gotten a clue. First, the council tackled a list of city commissions and committees that are made up of residents appointed under the previous council regime.

A former Laguna Beach water district official filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging he was wrongly terminated, in part for being out of contact with his supervisors during the devastating Laguna Beach fire, while he was assisting firefighters. The lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court contends that William Henryson worked nearly eight years for the Laguna Beach County Water District before he was fired in January, 1994.

In an intensely emotional ceremony, three City Council members relinquished their jobs Tuesday night after being lauded for their accomplishments--from keeping a housing tract out of Laguna Canyon to creating a park just for dogs. Despite their final controversial year in office--a year clouded by a ferocious firestorm 14 months ago--Robert F. Gentry, Lida Lenney and Ann Christoph were given a send-off that brought some on the council and in the audience to tears.

The city will ease into a new political era today when three City Council members are sworn into office and residents get their first glimpse into what new leadership might mean to the city. In what will undoubtedly be an emotional transition for some, Mayor Ann Christoph and council members Robert F. Gentry and Lida Lenney will relinquish their jobs. Christoph, who served only one term, lost in her bid for reelection.

Deputy City Manager Rob Clark, who began working for Laguna Beach 13 years ago, has accepted a job as city manager of Avalon. "I'm very excited about the opportunity," said Clark, who visits Catalina several times a year. "It should be a real adventure. We're really looking forward to it. "At the same time, I'm really going to miss Laguna Beach. It's been very good to me and I have lots of friends here. But if I get a strong telescope, I'll know what's happening."

While he has caught little glow from the limelight, friends say Laguna Beach resident Dan Wooldridge is a pioneer without peer, a visionary leader with a keen sense of politics who has steadily advanced the causes of gays and lesbians in Orange County and across the nation.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has ruled that Mayor Ann Christoph may vote on a controversial reservoir proposal without violating conflict of interest codes. Christoph, a landscape architect who was recently named mayor, had abstained from any votes involving the 3-million-gallon reservoir proposal. She had asked the commission for a ruling because in 1987 she had received a contract from the city for design work on Alta Laguna Park, which included the proposed reservoir site.