Former Malibu Media Information Officer Sandi Turner will be working as a contractor with the city to help promote safety along the Pacific Coast Highway, following the City Council’s unanimous 5-0 vote Monday night to hire her firm, Swell Communications, to a $34,250 contract.
Turner, who left her post as MIO for the City of Malibu in April and now works as a consultant, will turn her attention once again onto Malibu. According to the staff report for the professional services agreement, Turner will “perform outreach activities to promote safety along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) as part of the PCH Taskforce Safety Corridor Grant.”
Public Safety Commissioner Meril May spoke in favor of the grant.
“Anything we can do to improve the awareness and safety on PCH, I support,” May said.
Swell Communications will be in charge of creating a public service announcement to promote safety on the highway, as well as printing and distributing safety materials.
Road improvements finalized
City Council on Monday added two major road improvement projects to the record books, voting to authorize Public Works Director Bob Brager to submit a Notice of Completion for the Kanan Dume arrester bed and the Big Rock Drive intersection improvement.
The Kanan Dume arrester bed improvement, which ended up costing $896,366, was completed in just under a year, between the awarding of a construction contract and Monday’s meeting. The full cost of the project, according to city staff, was reimbursed by Measure R, the L.A. County measure that provides tax money for road improvements.
The arrester bed is designed to help trucks come to a stop before crashing into the intersection of Kanan and PCH, although semi-trucks are officially banned from using Kanan Dume.
Measure R also fully funded the Big Rock Drive intersection improvement, which came to $276,955. Since the project was expected to cost $325,000, the remaining funds will now go to pedestrian walkway improvements at the intersection of PCH and La Costa.