Irvine officials debate whether to debate veterans cemetery

It didn’t take long before the gloves came off at Tuesday’s Irvine City Council meeting.

Comments about a proposed veterans cemetery made by Councilman Larry Agran during opening announcements quickly devolved into a 10-minute, point-of-order squabble.

All five council members were heard in what was essentially a duel between Agran and Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Lalloway with the city attorney acting as referee.

Still stung by being shut out of the ad-hoc committee steering his pet project, Agran began to discuss an exchange of memos with Mayor Steven Choi following the last meeting in April. Agran wanted a cemetery progress report on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Choi denied the request, citing the lack of any firm date for the first committee meeting.

As Agran raised the subject, Lalloway quickly objected, requesting a ruling whether a debatable topic not on the agenda was allowed in the announcements’ segment of the meeting.

City Atty. Todd Litfin said the time is allocated for “anything appropriate for public discussion.”

Still, both Lalloway and Agran persisted in interrupting one another with procedural motions. At one point, Lalloway blurted, “Will you stop yelling over me please?”

“And what are you afraid he’s going to say?” chimed in Councilwoman Beth Krom in support of Agran.

“And you’re out of order for yelling at me now,” responded Lalloway, though Krom had not raised her voice in the exchange.

Choi ruled the discussion on the cemetery was not going to take place during announcements.

“In a totally unprecedented fashion, the mayor asserted that this was an inappropriate item to put on the agenda,” Agran said later. “That’s absurd.”

Although not on the agenda, the veterans cemetery proposal entered the docket with a handful of residents bringing it up during public comments. Most represented veterans’ organizations and all spoke in favor of the cemetery, urging the ad-hoc committee to take swift action on a proposal.

“This is our opportunity, this year, to get it done,” said Agran after the proceedings.

He cited momentum in the state Legislature for Assembly Bill 1453 introduced by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), chairwoman of the state Veterans Affairs Committee. The bill calls for construction of a veterans cemetery in Orange County.

“I empathize with them that they want this done yesterday,” Lalloway said. “Unfortunately 125 acres is a lot of land. We’re not here to make it run aground but they just brought it forward a couple of months ago.”

By protocol, Lalloway and Mayor Choi represent the Irvine council on the ad-hoc committee.

“This is government, and it doesn’t necessarily work the fastest in the world, it’s not business,” Lalloway continued. “You’ve got to make sure you compromise with folks and deal with all the interests here.”

By the end of the evening the panel did manage to find some common ground on the subject of council term limits. The four remaining members were in-step on a proposed November ballot measure to tighten term limits already in place.

The mayor’s proposal limits any future candidate to serving a total of 12 years in the chamber; two four-year terms on the council and two two-year terms as mayor. The measure passed unanimously 4-0 with Krom not in attendance for the vote.

“I’m happy that we all agreed on it, and it will be on the ballot in November,” Lalloway said.