City Council candidates spar in first debate

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City Council candidates John Sibert, Andy Lyon, Hans Laetz, Skylar Peak, Hamish Patterson, Missy Zeitsoff and Joan House answered questions regarding a number of Malibu issues, ranging from the Malibu Lagoon Project to safety on Pacific Coast Highway, during a candidate forum in February 2012 at City Hall.

Civic Center sewage facility, Malibu Lagoon dominate first debate between the seven Malibu City Council candidates.

By Homaira Shifa / Special to The Malibu Times

The seven candidates vying for three places in April’s Malibu City Council election met last week for the first time at City Hall, expressing sharp differences on a variety of subjects.

Council candidates John Sibert, Andy Lyon, Hans Laetz, Skylar Peak, Hamish Patterson, Missy Zeitsoff and Joan House answered questions relating to the Malibu Lagoon Project, the possibility of Malibu forming its own school district, septic prohibition and the Civic Center area sewage treatment facility, local business protection and safety on Pacific Coast Highway.

The first signs of disagreement among the candidates centered around the controversial California State Parks-led project to reshape the Malibu Lagoon using bulldozers, scheduled to begin June 1.

Patterson, Peak, Zeitsoff and Lyon expressed strong opposition to the project, while Sibert said additional evaluation and assessment of the project was needed, generating rebuttals from the opponents. Sibert, a current city councilmember who is running for re-election, has faced withering criticism from opponents to the project for not taking a position either for or against it.

“I’m the target on this one,” Sibert said when the issue of the project was broached. “We need to make sure we have all the facts from both sides [for and against the project]. When I get new facts, I change my position. I don’t know what other people do when they get new facts. But they should at least reassess where they are.”

Patterson rebutted, questioning why the city can’t make a firm decision on the matter. Patterson called the council’s take on it “wishy washy,” and said that has to change.

Lyon also responded.

“We have a city council who doesn’t want to stand up,” Lyon said. “We have a mayor now who doesn’t want to take a position on this.”

Laetz said the blame lay with previous councils.

“We don’t have a legal leg to stand on, there’s no way we can block [the project],” Laetz said. “The city councils of years past sold us out.”

Many candidates expressed concern about city money being wasted. Zeitsoff cited as an example city staff’s recent request for an additional, unbudgeted $1.45 million to pay for engineering services related to a centralized wastewater treatment facility in the Civic Center.

“It’s another spineless attitude by the City of Malibu,” Zeitsoff said. “Whether it’s the staff directing the council or the council directing the staff, they’re all in a big fish bowl together, not having the spine to get these ridiculous state-ordered mandated projects out of our city. We used to have guts. Where has it all gone?”

That comment irked Sibert, who denied Zeitsoff’s characterization of the current council.

“I take umbrage at the fact that you stated that we don’t have any spine,” Sibert said.

Sibert said he co-founded Save Our Coast to fight Los Angeles County in the late 1980s when a centralized sewer system was first proposed. Sibert added he was not in favor of central sewers.

House appeared to take a middle road. She noted that residents in Phase 2 of the plan, which would require Civic Center-area property owners to hook up to a central sewage treatment facility by 2019, would first have to approve an assessment district to pay for it. Thus, she said, it was the choice of residents.

Laetz castigated the plan to build the facility on grounds of public safety. In order to store treated effluent from the proposed facility, the city plans to drill wells approximately 100 feet under the ground to inject excess effluent that it cannot reuse. Laetz said the geology of the area would not support that plan.

“Injecting water into an earthquake fault is suicide,” Laetz said. “I will never support this sewage plant as long as water is released into this basin at whatever depth.”

The candidates did voice agreement on three issues of recent local concern. Almost all candidates supported the idea of Malibu leaving the Santa Monica Unified School District and forming its own school district. They also supported calls for the council to protect the survival of local businesses, as well as efforts to make Pacific Coast Highway safer.

“The PCH is our one common denominator,” Patterson said.

To make the highway less dangerous, candidates proposed better signage, more road dividers, road repairs and increased sheriff patrol among many possible solutions.

Each of the candidates was asked to state their top three priorities if elected to the City Council.

Lyon said his top three goals were stopping the lagoon and sewer projects and safety on the PCH.

Laetz wants power lines undergrounded in western Malibu, more local control of Malibu to be taken from larger agencies and a greater commitment to “respecting and enhancing the Malibu way of life.”

Peak’s goals include being proactive in waste water systems, working on public safety and increasing the parks budget.

Patterson’s only goal is to open City Hall to the public so “everyone knows what’s going on and where money is being spent.”

Zeitsoff wants to monitor “irresponsible growth,” to investigate the Lagoon and sewer facility projects and to work on budget matters and how money is being spent.

House’s goal is to work with council to increase the city’s reserve fund, to expand the Michael Landon project and to propose the institution of a citywide shuttle service.

Sibert’s priorities include fiscal discipline for the city, public safety and the environment.

Malibu Patch and Moms-Pod hosted the debate. The last day to register to vote is March 26. Election day is April 10. The three candidates who receive the most votes will win seats on the City Council.