For the first time in roughly 18 months, Malibu hit its ambitious goal of cutting back water use by 36 percent. Water use is compared to water used by residents in the same month in 2013.
Waterworks District 29 representative Dave Rydman has become a fixture at Malibu City Council meetings since June 2015 when water regulations were put into place; even in months when Malibu’s water use was the highest in the region, Rydman was there to put a positive spin on reports. At Monday night’s meeting, he seemed exuberant.
“For the first time since the drought regulations were put into place back in June 2015, the City of Malibu met their goal for the month of January 2017,” Rydman told council. “We did have seven-and-a-half inches of rain in the month of January, compared to one-and-a-half in 2013, which is good news. It does show that … Malibu turns their sprinklers off when it rains.”
Mayor Lou La Monte joked that the water reduction also came from Council Member Laura Rosenthal knocking on every door in Malibu and asking residents to cut back.
Jeff Jennings back on Planning Commission
Following the resignation of longtime planning commissioner Roohi Stack, La Monte appointed another longtime commissioner — Jeffrey Jennings — back to the post he’d vacated only a month before.
Jennings, also a former mayor, was appointed to the commission by former City Council Member John Sibert, who was termed out of office in 2016. Jennings is considered a political rival to the majority of the current planning commission, including another longtime member and current chair John Mazza.
“Roohi Stack has been my planning commission appointment for the last seven years; for three years before that she was (former Mayor) Pamela Conley Ulich’s appointment,” La Monte said. “She served 10 years with dignity and honor and honesty and perseverance and patience and if you added up all the staff reports she read over that 10 years, it’d probably go all the way up to the ceiling.”
Stack submitted a letter of resignation from the commission on Jan. 30.
City to back LA County Measure H in March election
It may be difficult to believe, but it’s time to gear up for another election, with March 7 coming up on the calendar in just a few short weeks.
Malibu voters will see just one issue on the ballot — Measure H, a proposed quarter-cent sales tax designed to “help fund housing and support services for the homeless population throughout the county,” according to a staff report provided by the City of Malibu. The issue has received official support from Malibu City Council following a vote at Monday night’s meeting.
Council members mentioned at the meeting the expected low turnout for the March election, which would follow a strong trend in Malibu of low turnout in off-year elections. The last city council election, in April 2014, drew just 30 percent of registered voters, significantly less than half of Malibu’s usual turnout for national elections.
The City of Malibu earlier this month put out a notice to remind residents that vote-by-mail ballots may be dropped off to City Hall through Tuesday, March 7 at 5:30 p.m.
“Ya gotta vote, folks!” Mayor Pro Tem Skylar Peak said before the issue was closed.