So I finally got my hands on the original designs for the plaques at the La Puente Community Center — and I say original because they are significantly different from the final designs that are sitting inside the community center today.

Here’s the original design:

It includes the names of former councilwoman Renee Chavez, former Mayor Lou Perez and former City Manager Carol Cowley.

And here’s the new design:

No Chavez, no Perez and no Cowley.

You might remember a story I wrote a few weeks back about claims that Louie Lujan asked a Chevron official to take the names of former Councilwoman Renee Chavez and former Mayor Lou Perez off the plaques.

Perez said Ken Casey, business development manager for Chevron, told him Chevron wanted to include the names of the previous council members because they were the ones who actually approved the project. Perez said Casey also told him after Lujan disapproved of the designs, Chevron refused to pay for the plaques.

In a recent conversation, Councilman John Solis backed up those claims, saying he was told the same story by former City Manager Carol Cowley.

Lujan called the allegations ridiculous, said he knew nothing about any “original” designs (as they never went before the council) and questioned why Perez was even concerned about the situation since he’s not involved in city politics anymore.

The city paid for the plaques from its own coffers — $1,467. Though industry experts tell me it’s standard from the contractor to usually eat that cost.

My question is how did the city get from point A (original design) to point B (current design)? Hopefully not at any cost to the taxpayers.