Mayor Alan Corlin, the father of this new-fangled idea, says that “in reality, this is a single-year budget with a two-year projection.”
Deciding to Proceed
In spite of this caveat, Ms. Gross seemed determined to duel.
It is not personal with Mr. Fulwood, she said later. “This is not Fulwood and me,” she said. “We have had long and cordial conversations. This is about me responding to things that happen to be done by Fulwood.”
Half an hour into the budget talks, Ms. Gross honed in on Mr. Fulwood, as she frequently does.
The first law in setting fire to a debate is to know the answers to the questions you thrust at your opponent. She did, starting placidly.
For Openers
“Could you remind me,” inquired Ms. Gross, “when it was the Council voted to have a two-year budget.”
She knew no such vote had been held.
“The City Council never did,” Mr. Fulwood replied, as if he had known all along the question was being airmailed.
“However,” he added, “from a staff perspective, in looking at the issues in trying to provide City Council with the best financial tools possible, staff made an administrative decision. We developed a two-year budget that gave us a much better perspective of the city’s finances.”
Tempo Builds
And away they went in their rigorously disagreeing way. The two of them played out the rest of the scene, in seven or eight minutes, in championship sparring form.
Ms. Gross was solidly dissatisfied with Mr. Fulwood’s answer, reasserting her conviction that deciding on a two-year budget inarguably is the bailiwick of the City Council.
A Different Perspective
Councilman Steve Rose disagreed. He said that City Hall has known about the two-year budget strategy since the middle of last autumn.
He explained how the concept developed. “I was sitting on the (Council’s) Budget and Finance Committee last September or October when a two-year budget plan was presented to us. We said, ‘Go ahead.’”
Administrative Call
Mr. Rose said a certification vote by the entire City Council was deemed unnecessary. “To me,” he said, “this is more of a management decision.”
Mr. Corlin, the mayor, has championed a two-year budget form throughout his two terms on the City Council.
He and Mr. Rose echoed Mr. Fulwood’s conclusion that assembling a two-year perspective on the city’s financial future will lead to wiser decision-making in the coming year while providing a bonus for next year’s mostly new City Council.
Easing a Burden?
When three new members are elected to the Council in April, they will have the option of tweaking or overhauling next June’s budget, a weighty decision so soon after taking office.
“Because of this budget style,” Mr. Corlin said, “we will have more information available during the coming year than we ever have had to make the kind of reflective decisions our constituency expects us to make.”
Mayor’s Reaction
The mayor was not finished.
Appearing to aim his remarks in Ms. Gross’s direction, Mr. Corlin told the newspaper:
“How anyone can say that having less information is better for us than more information is something I find astounding.”
From Ms. Gross’s opening sally, her four colleagues on the dais, and everyone else in Council Chambers, knew what was going to follow.
Getting to Know Each Other
Just as prizefighters learn to capitalize on the habits and weaknesses of opponents they frequently are matched against, Mr. Fulwood and Ms. Gross both have become knowledgeable, masterful foes for each other.
More polished and sophisticated than in their first confrontation 48 months ago, the lady from the City Council and the gentleman in charge of Culver City duel now with supreme verve and confidence.
Their arguments are more than a kerfuffle but less than an earthquake.
Maturation Process
Both officials have evolved into wily, mature, first-class politicians with styles as starkly different as their philosophical convictions.
Emotion is on holiday when they clash. This is unadulterated intellectual combat. Nobody perspires. Neither raises his voice. They make unswerving eye contact. They thrust and they parry until their verbal arms weary. Retreat is not an option.
Unfailingly, it is the best free theatre available on a Monday night in Culver City, and it only has 11 months to run. Ms. Gross will be termed out next April. Mr. Fulwood may be tempted to help her to the door. Friends say he will resist.
The rigidly followed script of the “Carol & Jerry Show” never varies.
How It Starts
Ms. Gross, ever the aggressor, perceives a glint of an opening and leaps.
The low-key Mr. Fulwood, probably the best fortified City Hall official in modern times, may resemble an ordinary citizen on a park bench, detachedly observing the passing scene.
In fact, he is shrewd beyond appearance, permanently prepared to defend his position in richly elongated detail while warding off any pouncing.
Taut and Tough
Over the four years of Mr. Fulwood’s incumbency, their clashes have hardened into a chain of fist-clenching scenes. No meanness, but overt pleasantry left the room awhile ago.
For all of these reasons, Ms. Gross and Mr. Fulwood have grown into Culver City’s favorite political gladiators.
COUNCIL NOTES — Councilman Gary Silbiger trotted out his annual budget-time ritual of pleading for wider community participation. This is a useless exercise in Mr. Corlin’s opinion. He recalled that five or six years ago when the Council took the series of budget sessions on the road for about a half-dozen nights, a total of 20 residents showed up. Seeking to salvage his own scrap from this every-year dialogue, Mr. Rose suggested that dancers from other Hooters or Chippendale’s be imported to Council Chambers as a marquee attraction…
Four budget hearings are scheduled for next week in Council Chambers — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday — starting at 6…
It is anticipated that on Monday, June 18, Mr. Fulwood’s salary package, a potentially radioactive subject, and the definitely radioactive matter of funding of non-government groups such as the Dr. King Day, Fiesta La Ballona and Sister Cities committees will be aired…
For decades, pay raises for the Fire Dept. have been tied to increases the L.A. County and L.A. City Fire Depts. negotiate with their unions. Culver City firefighters receive 50 percent of the cumulative raise. Formfully, the Council approved a 10.87 percent raise over three years, retroactive to last July 1…
