Welcome Mat Out at Office of Mayor

In an effort to get more people to visit him and to raise the profile of his post, Mayor Chris Norby has redecorated his office at City Hall and is inviting the public to an open house today.

The walls in the office, which once featured a few city plaques, now hold pictures of historical buildings, a photograph of police headquarters, a list of all past mayors, three large maps of the city and a local artist’s poster of Fullerton.

In addition, Norby has hung his gavel, a picture of himself and his son, Alex, and his four certificates of election in his office, which also has fresh-cut flowers in vases, a hanger on a coatrack and a boombox playing classical music.

“It’s a little bit more like a living room,” Norby said, adding that when a new mayor is chosen, he hopes he or she also will personalize the office. “It’s more homey this way.”

Norby said he is usually in the office every day for about an hour in the afternoon but that, starting today, he will be there Tuesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., welcoming visitors and passing out postcards and city pins.

“I want people to come by and know that this is their office as well as mine,” said Norby, 47, a U.S. government and history teacher at Brea Olinda High School who was elected in 1984 and reelected in 1988, 1992 and 1996.

Norby also is asking the public to contribute art “that in some way represents our city’s past, present and future” to adorn his new office or to display in City Hall.

He said he chose to hang photographs of Fullerton’s historical sites, including the old City Hall, a fire station and the downtown, because “there’s a continuity in this city.”

Most of the people who visit Norby at the office or at his Sunday night meetings at Giovanni’s pizza parlor do so to air their concerns about their neighborhoods, streets, trees and other issues that affect them. Often, the mayor invites his visitors to speak publicly at City Council meetings.

“Sometimes people just need reassurance,” Norby said Monday as he watched his 6-year-old son play in his office. “But even though they have complaints and problems, they tell me that they feel a sense of belonging in Fullerton, that it’s an area that has retained its flavor of personality.

“I’m proud of our town and proud to be mayor, and I want people to see that the [mayoralty] belongs to all of them,” he added.

Today’s open house will be from 3 to 4 p.m.