Beaumont Council: Gall, Berg, Castaldo Heat Public Meeting Up With Impromptu Comments, Debate

While millions of Americans were watching our presidential contenders battle it out in their second televised debate, some Beaumont residents got a show of their own from local politicians at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

During the “council report” part of the meeting—normally reserved for talking about “city actions taken, committee assignments, and training and travel”—some members took advantage of the time to call each other out on issues, and their recent comments here on Banning-Beaumont Patch.

Mayor ProTem David Castaldo, who is not up for re-election this year, was the first to speak out of the normal realm, choosing to call attendees’ attention to recent Patch comments made by another councilmember, Nancy Gall—who is up for re-election next month. 

“It’s kind of hard that actually Monday, or yesterday, on the Patch, that Nancy Gall basically states that ‘I am the only councilmember that does show up prepared.  I have always read all of the agenda.’  I personally, this is my opinion, find it very hard to believe that somebody comes here prepared, reads the agenda, speaks out against CSDs, and actually votes one in…. these are facts, they’re not my comments…” he said.

When it was her turn to give her council report, Gall also took some time to talk about comments made on Patch.

“I am not opposed to the concept of CFDs or mello roos, I am opposed to the amount that our people are paying and I believe there are things that could be done to reduce the amount that they are paying.  I’d like to make that clear.”

How it Started

Castaldo was referencing a comment made here on Patch that stemmed from a user conversation.    On Patch’s Oct. 11 story titled Beaumont-Cherry Valley Candidates Forum: 17 Candidates in Four Races, a heated discussion arose about whether or not the candidates had received questions in advance so they could better prepare for the event.  (For the record, organizers tell Banning-Beaumont Patch that they did not receive any questions ahead of time.  Rather, all questions were collected at the forum, and limited to the most relevant questions to all candidates.)

After several back and forth comments speculating on the matter, councilwoman Nancy Gall commented that she had not seen any questions in advance, but also indicated that she thinks others may have.

“I received no questions in advance. I'm on the wrong side,” she said.  “…I've represented the citizens of Beaumont and defended them against city hall bullies--especially Mayor Berg.”

After more back-and-forth dialogue between users, Gall later continued with more, including a portion of what Castaldo referenced above.

“…The four councilmen pass everything without a question," she commented.  "The only thing I can do is question and vote against. They refuse to work cooperatively with the Water or School District. Then they blame all problems on others. I am the only council member that does show up prepared. I have always read all of the agenda.  I realize that might be difficult for others with limited education such as [patch user ‘Mr. C’]…”

Meeting Debate Continues

Mayor Roger Berg, who also took to commenting on the article, spoke openly at Tuesday’s meeting about his dislike of that particular comment.

“Each one up here on the council brings something unique to the table… just because you have an education, doesn’t make you a smart person,” Berg said.  “I think to belittle someone like that on the Patch is totally wrong, and I think you owe every one of these council members up here an apology.”

“To make these erroneous comments [on Patch] and belittle us is wrong,” the mayor continued.  “Everyone here reads that agenda…  You don’t know what we read and when we read it.  I get mine online and I read it.  And I’m sure a lot of other people do the same thing and pick it up.  So it’s wrong for you to accuse us.  What you do and how you study, that’s up to you, but you should not be belittling the rest of the council.”

After a few more minutes, the mayor closed the matter for discussion, and moved on to regularly scheduled agenda items.

Before that, though, it seemed there was one thing the two could agree on during the tiff—that they don’t want politics sneaking into council matters.

“This is not a partisan office,” Berg said.  “This is a non-partisan office, politics should not come into it, should not come into it at all.  That’s just my own personal opinion.”

“I agree,” Gall said.

Since she was not able to further discuss things once the mayor got the meeting back on track, Gall took to the Patch article one more time after the meeting.

“Were these issues proper for a Council meeting?” she asked.  “I think not.”