The Manhattan Beach City Council decided on Tuesday to scrap the centennial carnival, which would have included a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round and an antique car show, and would have cost the city up to $80,000.
“I cannot support this carnival idea,” Councilmember David Lesser said. “The parade was a perfect community event. There’s no need to try and supplement it. That was the climax of the celebration.”
The carnival was originally intended to replace the ticketed Centennial Beach Ball, the logistics of which had divided the community and the council, with some residents calling it an “elitist affair.”
Council members Nick Tell and Richard Montgomery, the two who initially headed the Centennial Committee and were proponents of the beach ball, were absent from Tuesday’s meeting, leaving Mayor Wayne Powell and Council members David Lesser and Amy Howorth to make the final decision.
In May, Howorth replaced Montgomery on the committee.
During a four-and-a-half hour April 30 meeting, the council had decided to cancel the contentious beach gala and instead host a more inclusive event – which was later dubbed the carnival – the scope of which would be contingent on the funds remaining in the Centennial Committee’s account.
In recent weeks, city staff has attempted to recreate a complete accounting of the foundation’s revenues and expenditures, which had not been done up to that point, said Finance Director Bruce Moe. Still, some financial records are missing. “It’s difficult and time consuming to build a record when you don’t have all the building blocks,” Moe said. “Just today we received another invoice that apparently the foundation should be paying.”
The city revealed on Tuesday that the committee’s balance was $2,000. However, centennial sponsor Anheuser Busch has allegedly asked for a $5,000 refund due to the gala cancellation, according to city staff, which leaves the committee $3,000 in debt.
“We’ve turned off all authorization for people to be spending money for the centennial,” Moe said. “There shouldn’t be any more spending.”
Committee members responsible for maintaining the finances were not necessarily those who were spending the money, which was “a recipe for disaster,” Moe said. He also reported that the committee’s 2011 tax returns had not yet been filed.
“The centennial should’ve been run by the city, and should’ve been paid for by the city,” Howorth said. “A lot of this would’ve been avoided.”
Powell explained the reason behind outsourcing the event planning and funding to the Centennial Committee. “In these uncertain economic times, residents don’t like to have city expenditures for a celebration or a party,” he said.
Residents who spoke at the meeting were against spending any more city funds on centennial events, and noted that the Centennial Parade in May perfectly topped off the celebration. “I’m thrilled to death to have that be my centennial event, period,” said resident Gerry O’Connor, adding that he felt the Centennial Committee operations were hugely mismanaged. “What is before you tonight needs to get drop kicked.”
Additionally, the city has incurred $37,000 in expenses for previous centennial events, which includes food for the centennial meetings, street cleaning, banners and other supplies, according to a city staff report. Lesser was not prepared to approve this cost. “I do not have enough information to formally come to a conclusion on that,” he said.
The council agreed to revisit the discussion at a subsequent meeting with all council members present.
