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The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - June 14, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events ............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals ......................7
Classifieds ...........................3
Entertainment .....................2
Hawthorne Happenings ...3
Lawndale .............................4
Legals ................................4,7
Pets .......................................8
Restaurant Guide. ..............5
Weekend
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Centinela Valley Honors Retirees
Congrats to the 2018 Centinela Valley Union High School District retirees! The District recently wished them all the best and thanked them for their years of service and dedication to the students and CV.
Pictured: Dallas Waxler, Roberta Jenks, Felix Colon, Thomas Hutchins and Teresa Fernandez.
Courtesy of Centinela Valley Union High School District
Council Approves Budget with Surplus,
Bids Farewell to Huber
By Derrick Deane
After two weeks off, the Hawthorne City
Council reconvened to officially vote on the
proposed 2018-2019 fiscal year budget and
to bid farewell to a beloved colleague. The
Council voted unanimously to approve the
proposed budget first presented during the May
24 meeting. It includes a $1 million surplus
and a total cash surplus of $18 million for
the City of Hawthorne.
“I’d like to thank my City Council colleagues
for working together to do what is best for the
community,” Mayor Alex Vargas said. “We
have a good dynamic up here and things are
going great. Never have we had a situation
where we had more cash on hand than ever
before, so I’m really happy about that. We’re
doing things right.”
While the budget sees a slight increase in
expenditures to a total of $72,622,820, it is
particularly offset by recently voter-approved
Measure HH tax revenue that helps boost
City income to $73,495,917. “For the first
time in a very, very, very long time we have
what’s been traditionally known as a surplus
-- but it’s more of cash on hand compared
to years in the past,” Vargas said after the
budget was approved.
The Council thanked Interim City Manager
Arnie Shadbehr, who stepped in amid the
sudden firing of Finance Director Rickey
Manbahal to keep the budget process on
track. “Thank you to the entire City Council
for your support and due diligence and honest
work in the past three years,” Shadbehr said
while also thanking Acting Finance Director
Phyllis Lopez and “the entire finance staff for
putting the budget together.”
The meeting began with the Council taking
a few moments to thank City Clerk Norb
Huber for his eight years of service. Huber
is retiring as City Clerk as well as from his
teaching position and moving to Northern
California to spend time with his family.
“It’s been my goal to communicate with
the citizens of Hawthorne for the last eight
years,” Huber said. “I started years ago with
Coffee with the Clerk out in the lobby and my
interest was simply to get more involvement
from the citizens and participate in our city
government.”
Over the years, Huber has become a
fixture at community gatherings and wrote
a weekly column for this newspaper that
touted upcoming events. He was instrumental
in the formation of the Hawthorne Historical
Society, the Hall of Fame Banquet, and Good
Neighbors Day, among many other events
over the years.
“I will look back on my eight years as an
honor,” Huber said. “I have tried to make
it enjoyable and do my best to be fair to
everybody that’s sat up here in the past… I
put my heart and soul in making Hawthorne
better for my family, my grandkids and for
the citizens. Spending the time to get to know
people and listen to them -- and I never got
to sit up there and vote on anything, but I
certainly know my voice was heard and I
know that this current Council listens to what
I had to say.”
Huber pointed out two things that he would
like the Council to continue to do after he
leaves. “I pride myself on being out in the
community and I know you all have your
personal lives and I know family comes
first, but I will tell you that it makes a big
difference -- other than campaign season -- to
be out there at those [city] events,” Huber said.
The long-dormant Hawthorne Mall was
Huber’s other issue that he wished the Council
would “dig in” and to do something about in
the future. “Something has to be done with
the mall across the street,” he said. “I really
encourage you to do anything proactive you
can to get that eyesore out within my lifetime.”
In last month’s issue of this newspaper,
Huber suggested transforming the area into
a terminal entry to the tunnel network being
built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company. “People
could drive to the terminal, park their cars and
hop on the fast, clean skates that will whisk
them under our freeways,” Huber wrote in
his May 24 Hawthorne Happenings column.
Huber’s colleagues each had a moment to
thank him for his service and to wish him
the best during retirement. “I know that you
worked very tirelessly to ensure that the
department is working to par and I am grateful
to that because you…helped in ensuring the
transparency in everything that happens in
that department is factual,” Councilmember
Angie Reyes English said. “You’re a loyal,
dedicated servant and for that we thank you
for your dedication and know that you will
always have friends here in Hawthorne to
come and visit.”
Mayor Pro Tem Hadir Awad shared the most
profound piece of advice he learned from
Huber. “Smile and cherish every moment,”
he said. “I will always keep that with me.”