An often-unanimous Malibu City Council was anything but that at the Monday night meeting when small cracks in the unified council front, which had appeared at earlier meetings, suddenly widened into a chasm. Councilmember Ken Kearsley made a motion, seconded by Sharon Barovsky, to temporarily stop the Ad Hoc Committee, consisting of Mayor Tom Hasse and Mayor Pro Tem Joan House, from negotiating for any further real estate deals in the Civic Center.
The Hasse/House Ad Hoc Committee has been negotiating for months with local landowners on behalf of the city. Recently, in talks with the owners of the proposed La Paz Development on Civic Center Way, there have been negotiations for a deal that would include a City Hall in return for commercial development. The committee has also been negotiating with landowner Roy Crummer and the state over Bluffs Parks in an effort to save or replace the ball fields.
The motion appeared to indicate that Barovsky and Kearsley were no longer willing to have the negotiations operate in this manner.
The motion was finally withdrawn after Jeff Jennings, who appeared to be the swing vote, indicated he would not vote for it at this time. But it was apparent that both Barovsky and Kearsley were upset and said they were being left out of the loop.
Hasse and House were also upset with the prospect of the Ad Hoc Committee’s activities being suspended.
The issue arose when the staff wanted to put the issue of the Civic Center design concepts before the Planning Commission — in effect, to move up the plans for the Civic Center for review on March 5. But Kearsley and Barovsky balked because, they said, they were not fully informed about what the Ad Hoc Committee did in the private negotiations over the past few months. Barovsky was also concerned that the plans were not discussed with two homeowner associations in the vicinity of the Civic Center area — the Malibu Colony and Malibu Road Home Owner Associations.
Jennings said he would not support the motion to halt all Ad Hoc Committee activities. The council then instructed Barry Hogan, planning director, to meet with the two associations before they would consider the concepts further.
In another matter, the renewal of the lobbying contract for city lobbyist Jim Dantona of the lobbying firm of ‘Governmental Impact,’ the same 2-2 split was apparent with Barovsky/Kearsley on one side and Hasse/House on the other and Jennings again as the swing vote.
The cost of the contract ($66,000 a year) was questioned by Barovsky and Kearsley, who also said that Dantona, who was to have reported to the council in writing about his activities, hadn’t done so.
They were also unhappy that the legislature passed last year and the governor signed two bills which the city opposed while Dantona was lobbying for the city.
AB988 took away the city’s ability to write its own local coastal plan and gave it to the Coastal Commission, and AB885 shifted regulatory control of onsite sewage treatment systems away from the city.
The council compromised temporarily and voted to renew Dantona’s contract for another month, until councilmembers could review the contract and its applications in more detail.
Both Hasse and House supported renewing the contract and suggested if Barovsky and Kearsley feel out of the loop about what the lobbyist is doing, they should pick up the phone and call him.
The council also considered amending the policy for Dial-A-Ride services. Julia James, administrative services director, suggested, in the agenda, that the services should be limited to transportation for medical purposes only.
But the council disagreed because it wants to enable people who are unable to drive to participate in community activities. The service is a subsidized taxi service intended to provide transportation to senior and disabled residents who would not otherwise have a means in which to transport them.
The current program, which is funded by propositions A and C, is going to be cut in half in July 2001, and the city will either have to absorb the $60,000 cost from the general funds or cut costs.
The prospect of limiting Dial-A-Ride moved Barovsky to ask, “Why do we have enough money in the budget to pay $66,000 a year for a lobbyist, but do not have enough money to make sure our elderly and disabled can get to and from the grocery store?”
The City Council sent the proposal back to the city staff to review potential money saving and accountability measures to prevent abuses of the services.
During the public comments, Emily Harlow, Ruby Fader and Charleen Kabrin, volunteers for the city’s dolphin decal program, indicated that they were disturbed about “irregularities” that exist in the program.
The decal program was created to allow Malibu residents quick access to their homes in case of disaster.
The dolphin stickers were only available at Malibu City Hall and distributed by the volunteers until staff members took the initiative to allow other outlets for the decals.
But the volunteers thought the city staff felt threatened by their participation in the civic affairs of Malibu and their participation in the decal program.
In response to the public complaint, Interim City Manager Christi Hogin and council members thanked the volunteers for their service to Malibu but they said the additional distribution outlets would speed up the process, thereby helping the program in the long run.