After some attrition in its membership, the Business Roundtable is looking to fill out its ranks with new members from the local business community. The City Council advisory group is particularly interested in adding to its rolls a representative from the local restaurant scene and a business owner from the western part of the city.
The roundtable lost two members in as many months, when Craig Peeples moved out of state, and Craig Smith ceased participating in the group. Peeples was leading an effort to establish a visitors’ information center in the heart of Malibu, and the roundtable needs another person to continue his work.
Roundtable members expect to have a difficult time enticing people in the restaurant business because the late-night hours restaurateurs tend to keep may run up against the early-morning start-time of the roundtable’s monthly meetings.
“It’s hard because restaurant people don’t usually go to bed until 2 a.m.,” said roundtable member and Malibu Chamber of Commerce Director Mary Lou Blackwood.
Still, she said, the roundtable holds “very important meetings” affecting Malibu business people.
“We can speak on behalf of the business community, but we need more people here,” said Blackwood.