Part XXI
HISTORY On the Hill
Written by Julie Bendzick-Sin.
This is a reprint 21 of 24 articles first published in the Star Tribune 1990-1991
Digitally Preserved by the Signal Hill Historical Society for future generations
City Politics in Chaos
In October 1958, a disruptive power struggle broke out between Signal Hill’s City Council and its Police Department. It continued for the next 18 months. The smoldering issues underlying this political clash were the unmet demands for a raise by the police and fire departments and a petition before City Council to reinstate legalized gambling in Signal Hill. When the president of the Signal Hill Police and Fire Association became frustrated with the uncooperative stand that City Council took on these issues, he led a fight to recall some members of the Council.
This dispute really heated up, however, when the City Council unanimously ordered the dismissal of Captain Travis F. Oltman for misconduct. Captain Oltman was accused of changing the booking of a Mr. George Cilley from drunk driving to "plain drunk‘, and directing that his bail be reduced from $525 to $25. At the time of his arrest. Cilley's drivers license had been suspended due to a pending drunk drive charge in Los Cerritos Court. Cilley's Signal Hill arrest records were falsified and his sobriety test result destroyed, allegedly upon Oltman’s orders.
The Signal Hill Police Department reacted to the City Council's action against Captain Oltman with a fury. Protests at the October 6, 1958 council meeting which approved Oltman's dismissal were loud and frequent. One resident even invited Mayor Benjamin Moyle to "come out and fight."
Two weeks later a hearing on the dismissal of Oltman was held by the Les Angeles County Civil Service Commission. The hearing lasted nearly six hours and was full of conflicting testimonies from all witnesses and parties involved. One witness, Officer Bellot, even went so far as to accuse Mayor Moyle himself of requesting that the drunk driver's auto tow records be falsified!
On October 29, 1958, the Civil Service Commission ruled that Oltman was not guilty as charged. They sited the witnesses' conflicting testimonies as problematic, making a clear decision of guilt or innocence impossible. The City Council, in turn, voted four to one to overrule the finding of the Commission. Oltman responded by vowing to take the case to Court and seek reinstatement. His attorney, Robert Buck also headed the movement to petition a recall of City Council.
When City Council subsequently asked Police Chief Heier to fire two other patrolmen involved in testimonies given before the Civil Service Commission investigating Oltman, Chief Heier refused and resigned. The crowd who witnessed Heier's resignation at the November 3, 1958 council meeting were in an uproar. City Council then appointed Sergeant Robert Hunnicutt as acting Police Chief.
By early December 1958 the recall petitions filed against Mayor Moyle, Councilman Hautly, and Councilman Vaughn were rejected by the City Clerk. The petitions carried only 453 signatures, 98 short of the 551 needed to represent 25% of Signal Hill's registered voters.
In February of 1959, Oltman filed suit against the City, asking for reinstatement to his former position and full back pay. He charged that the Council did not have the right to remove him after the Civil Service hearing had failed to find him guilty.
One month later, the battle between City Council and the Signal Hill Police and Fire Association developed a new twist. The City Council met with officials of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to discuss the Sheriffs department taking over the operation of the Signal Hill Police Department. A meeting was also planned with the County Fire Department to discuss a take over of the Signal Hill Fire Department.
Meanwhile, on March -18, 1959, a Superior Court Judge ordered the City to reinstate Oltman as Police Captain, effective immediately. According to the Court, City Council was technically wrong to fire Oltman, as this must be done by the Police Department head.
By the end of March, City Council (in a vote of four to one) approved a contract with the County of Los Angeles for the operation of the Signal Hill Police Department. The dissenting vote was Councilwoman Nellie Combellack's. She made a motion to set up a citizen’s committee to examine the issue before any action was taken, but her motion did not get seconded. Ten citizens present at the council meeting spoke up and opposed the move, expressing that there had not been enough time to find out all the ramifications of the contract before it had be approved.
Little did this City Council foresee that their rush to replace Signal Hill's Police Department with a County Sheriffs’ operation would ultimately hasten their own political downfall in the fall of '59.
To Be Continued
Part XXII
HISTORY On the Hill
Written by Julie Bendzick-Sin.
This is a reprint 22 of 24 articles first published in the Star Tribune 1990-1991
Digitally Preserved by the Signal Hill Historical Society for future generations
The Astute Politics of Nellie Combellack
There was a group of Signal Hill Councilmen in power in 1959 who became known to their political opponents as “The Four Wise Men" (our town's version of The Gang of Four.) This quartet, consisting of Mayor Benjamin Moyle and councilmen Harold V. Clark, Emil B. Hautly and Frank B. Vaughn, unwittingly committed political suicide when they hastily pushed through legislation which approved contracts with Los Angeles County officials for the operation of Signal Hill's Police and Fire Departments. The maneuver was, in reality, designed to strip the Signal Hill Police and Fire Association of any political clout, while, supposedly, saving the city money.
Councilwoman Nellie J. Combellack cast the only dissenting vote in this matter. At a Signal Hill City Council meeting in March 1959, Combellack made a motion to establish a committee of 25 citizens, each member of the Council to appoint 5, to consider the matter. Her motion was not seconded.
Signal Hill's residents did not react kindly to The Four Wise Men's politically motivated elimination of the city's independent police and fire departments. Moreover, a brand new $90,000 police station that was no longer being used, stood as a continual reminder to Signal Hill's citizens of the poorly thought of fiscal impact of the contracts for county services.
By October 1959, a special election was held to recall the Four Wise Men from office. The candidates who ran against the incumbent councilmen were endorsed by The Citizens Committee of Signal Hill on a platform dedicated "to restore the voice of the people of Signal Hill" and reestablish Signal Hill's independent Fire Protection, Police Department, free emergency ambulance service, and animal service. Policemen and Firemen were also promised wages equal to those of the Long Beach by this platform.
Voter turnout was impressive: 75% of the city's registered voters ousted the incumbent councilmen at a margin of two to one and elected Einar R. Solo, Ernest J.Hippen, Loring R. Jones and Morris I. Shoup to replace them. Unaffected by the outcome was Councilwoman Combellack, who had endorsed the recall slate.
Combellack's staunch opposition to contract services in Signal Hill became her ticket to the Mayor's seat following the recall. She was always mindful of her constituents need to have an active voice in all significant political decisions affecting the quality of life in Signal Hill. It came as no surprise when Combellack was re-elected Mayor in 1960, a position she filled until April 1961.
Combellack's previous term as Mayor, (April 1953 to April 1954) followed a period of similar political upheaval in city politics. In the early 1950's however, Combellack was a strong and vocal opponent to legalized gambling of any form within the city. As once before, she had the majority sentiment of Signal Hill's residents behind her throughout her public career. She consistently remained unsullied by underhanded motives of personal, or financial, gain. to be continued
Part XXIII
HISTORY On the Hill
Written by Julie Bendzick-Sin.
This is a reprint 23 of 24 articles first published in the Star Tribune 1990-1991
Digitally Preserved by the Signal Hill Historical Society for future generations
What Ever Happened to Hancock Oil?
Unfortunately, the Hancock Oil refinery fire of May 28, 1958 (see: History on the Hill, Part XX, printed June 7, 1991) would ultimately prove to be a fatal blow to the longtime Signal Hill oil producer. The company's 35 year reign ended abruptly and without advance rumor in September 1958, when Hancock announced its merger with Signal Oil and Gas Company. The deal between the two "native" oil producers called for Signal Oil and Gas "to be the surviving corporation after stockholders ratified the agreement on the basis of the exchange of one share of Signal for one share of Hancock”,according to a September 19, 1958 Signal Hill Tribune report.
By February 1959, Signal Hill Oil and Gas started having second thoughts about rebuilding the burned out former Hancock refinery in Signal Hill. Signal Oil met with the Orange County Board of Supervisors to discuss building a replacement refinery in Huntington Beach.
Led by Councilwoman Nellie Combellack, the Signal Hill City Council urged Signal Oil and Gas to reconsider. The City Council offered to cooperate fully with any refinery reconstruction plans within Signal Hill.
In June of 1959, Samuel B. Mosher, Signal Oil and Gas Company's founder and Chairman of the Board, announced that his company had all the technological groundwork completed for the creation of a 40,000-barrel-a-day refinery, yet no decision had been reached on whether to locate it in Signal Hill or Huntington Beach.
Nearly one year later, in May of 1960, Mosher stated that the initial capacity of the rebuilt plant would be 15,000 to 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline only. Long range plans for the site included increasing the scale of the production facility to yield a maximum of 50,000 barrels of gasoline per day.
By September 1960, reconstruction of the refinery was still not underway. The hold-up was Signal Oil's need for more land adjacent to the Junipero Avenue site, north of Willow. The company made an application to the City of Long Beach for the purchase of 30 acres to Signal Oil and Gas. Long Beach attorney Jonah Jones noted that much of the newly acquired Signal Oil land lies in the flight path of a Municipal airport run-way, and could not be used for high buildings. The land could be used for a tank farm, however, which made it desirable to Signal Oil and Gas.
At last the final obstacle in the former Hancock refinery reconstruction had been removed. the new plant to be build was estimated to be able to provide 350 jobs for area residents.
to be continued
Part XXIV
HISTORY On the Hill
Written by Julie Bendzick-Sin.
This is a reprint 5 of 24 articles first published in the Star Tribune 1990-1991
Digitally Preserved by the Signal Hill Historical Society for future generations
Expanding Fire Protection in the late 60’s
By 1965, population growth, high rise development and increasing fire insurance costs, forced the City of Signal Hill to consider expanding its fire protection. In March of 1967, City Manager John Mansell, after a proposal approval by Long Beach councilmen, recommended that Signal Hill contract with Long Beach to provide fire protection on the Hill.
What seemed like an innocent solution to Signal Hill's inadequate fire protection problem, turned into another political fire storm regarding the contracting out of city services. Historically, similar actions taken by Signal Hill City Council in March 1959 turned into political suicide for those councilmen who foolishly railroaded the passage of county police and fire protection contracts, without taking Signal Hill citizens' sentiments into account (See "History on the Hill, Part XXI: City Politics in Chaos", published June 21, 1991, and “History on the Hill, Part XXII: The astute Politics of Nellie J Combellack” published June 28, 1991, in this paper.) This time, however, the Signal Hill City Council took care not to repeat the political blunder of their predecessors.
At a September 6, 1967 City Council meeting, Councilman Paul Kemner moved that a special election in Signal Hill be held to determine whether: (a) The City should contract with Long Beach for service; (b) The City should retain its own fire department and increase the manpower and equipment to be able to supply a 12-person response to a fire; or (c) The City should contract with Los Angeles County for service. Arguments for and against each proposal were to be included in the sample ballot. Councilman :
Kemner indicated that the outcome of this special election would determine the course the Council would follow.
A Fire Department Study Committee report made in July 1967 spelled out the relative advantages and costs among the three methods of solving the fire protection problem.
If Signal Hill were to contract with Long Beach, the City would gain quicker service in an emergency, due to the close proximity of several Long Beach stations to Signal Hill. The cost would be $228,000 for a twelve-man response fire crew. This cost did not include fire prevention nor ambulance service. Under the Long Beach charter, Signal Hill fireman couldn't be absorbed into the Long Beach department. This fact caused Signal Hill's firemen to vocally oppose any City fire service contract with Long Beach and, in turn, support an agreement with Los Angeles County, with whom their jobs would remain protected.
If Signal Hill were to retain and enlarge its own fire department and build two new stations, a $500,000 bond issue would be required. An annual operating budget of about $350,000 was estimated as necessary to man the two stations.
If Signal Hill were to contract with Los Angeles County for fire protection, the total cost for the first year of the contract would be about $210,000. This figure would change each year depending upon the assessed valuation of the property in Signal Hill.
On Tuesday, November 14, 197, Signal Hill voters turned out nearly 1200 voters for the special election. By a nearly 2 to 1 majority they voted in favor of City Council action to contract with the County of Los Angeles for fire services. In the weeks prior to the election off duty Signal Hill firemen and Los Angeles County Firefighters canvassed house to house, successfully persuading 816 citizens t cast their vote for a County contract.
All that remained was for the City Council to pass an ordinance to annex Signal Hill to the Los Angeles County Consolidated Fire District. The resulting contract would be for a minimum period of 10 years. The two County fire stations primarily serving Signal Hill were to be located at 1770E. Hill Street, Signal Hill, and 4020 E. Candlewood Street, Lakewood.
This is the final article from the Signal Tribune archives of the “History on the Hill” series, published Aug 9 1991