Petaluma City Council members Monday said rather than removing colleague Mike O?Brien from his role as liaison to the city?s Airport Commission, they?d prefer to see him commit to attending the handful of remaining airport meetings this year.
But following the discussion ? which came at the request of O?Brien?s fellow airport commissioners ? the two-term councilman said he would be unable to attend the October and November commission meetings, so the council should appoint somebody else anyway.
?I?d ask that you put somebody else in there,? he said, and the council agreed to do so at its Oct. 1 meeting.
O?Brien said he intended to resign last week, but when airport commissioners presented a resolution to the council asking for his removal, ?I wanted to see how this played out. I didn?t want it to look like I?d cut and run.?
At last week?s meeting, O?Brien said he was targeted for removal by Airport Commissioner ?Don Smith and his cronies? because he had raised concerns about overspending on airport projects.
He had also referred to commissioners as ?rich old guys with airplanes? in defending his decision to skip an airport meeting on his wedding anniversary.
O?Brien said that comment was misunderstood and he was not referring to all pilots who use the airport, just the commission members themselves.
?It was probably a poor choice of words,? he conceded, but said he wouldn?t apologize, as Airport Commission Chairman Ed Fullerton said he should do.
Commissioners said they wanted O?Brien replaced because he had missed seven of nine meetings this year.
Council members lamented the fact that the dispute had dragged on but said they saw no need to remove O?Brien for the remaining three months of his term as liaison if he would commit to attending the meetings.
?Let?s go to the meetings, and I?m sorry it?s gotten this far,? Mayor Pamela Torliatt said.
But at a later ?team-building? session Monday night, where O?Brien was absent, Councilmember Teresa Barrett criticized O?Brien?s decision to withhold his resignation until after the council discussed the issue.
?It was so petty,? she said. ?If Mr. O?Brien had just resigned at the beginning of the discussion instead of the end, it would have saved so much time.?
Also at the later meeting, some council members indicated O?Brien?s recent criticisms of already-approved projects and lengthy questioning of city workers overseeing those projects at council meetings were not helpful.
Council members said they should all be mindful of making unusual requests for detailed information on city activities that take away from city staff time spent on more immediate responsibilities.
?It?s unfortunate Council-member O?Brien?s not here because we?re all trying to work together, and we?ve had a couple of unfortunate situations that have recently come up,? Torliatt said.
Though he didn?t attend the meeting, O?Brien said in an earlier interview that he keeps a watchful eye on projects at the airport and throughout the city.
?I would like to see much tighter control on the public?s money,? he said.
In a response to O?Brien?s criticisms about airport operations, the public works department on Monday put out a two-and-a-half-page memo stating that spending on projects there is within the approved budget.
(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: