The City Council on Monday approved an ordinance to allow nonresidents to sit on the Parks and Recreation and Public Safety commissions, although the persons will not be able to vote. Councilmember Jefferson Wagner had proposed nonresidents be able to sit on certain commissions as voting members, but several council members felt uneasy with this suggestion.
The two commissions can have one member each that is a nonvoting member who can live outside city limits. The council as a whole will choose the persons, while regular commissioners are selected as appointees of individual council members. The council does not necessarily have to select a person from outside the city for the positions, but has the option to do so.
Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern accused Wagner of making the proposal for nonresidents to receive a voting position because Wagner’s appointee to the Parks and Recreation Commission, Graeme Clifford, lives just outside the city limits on Hume Road.
“I don’t think that’s good to change the law for one person,” said Stern, who jokingly referred to the proposal as the “Graeme Clifford Amendment.”
Wagner said his appointment of Clifford, who is a film director, was not the reason for his proposal, but rather it was because he wanted to get people who live in the canyon areas near trails to have more involvement in city matters. City Attorney Christi Hogin said nonresidents could sit on the Trails Master Plan Committee, since it is a committee and not a commission, and falls under different rules.
Clifford made a plea to the council to allow nonresidents on commissions, although he did not mention this would affect him. “There are those of us who have lived in this community for many, many years and fought for cityhood, and suddenly found ourselves outside the city boundary through no fault of our own,” Clifford said, “and yet have continued to participate in community activities in Malibu.”
He continued, “We all use the parks. We all send our kids to Little League and AYSO. We use the streets and infrastructure. We all shop in Malibu. We all live in Malibu.”
Clifford got little sympathy from the council. “Through no fault of your own, you live outside of the city,” said Stern, addressing Clifford. “But you are outside of the city. That’s the bottom line. You don’t vote here. You don’t pay taxes … you’re either in or you’re out, and you’re out.”
Councilmember Sharon Barovsky added, “What really bothers me the most is when somebody has the ability to either make law or recommend law that they don’t have to live with.”
City commissions function as recommendation bodies for the City Council. The only commission that can make final votes is the Planning Commission, although its decisions can be appealed to the City Council. All the council members agreed it was not a good idea to have even nonvoting members outside the city serving on the Planning Commission.
Viewshed task force appointments made
Also at the meeting, the council made appointments for a 12-person task force to make a recommendation on a viewshed protection ordinance. A majority of voters in the April election answered “yes” to a ballot question asking if the City Council should create a viewshed ordinance.
Malibu resident Leon Cooper, who was appointed to the viewshed task force, told the council he was concerned the formation of the committee would delay the process. “All this boils down to a needless hindrance, a dimple on the path to progress, to getting us toward an ordinance before the council,” Cooper said. “Why not cut to the chase right away?”
Barovsky said she understood Cooper’s concern, but she said the other option would be worse.
“If we don’t do it … we’re going to be accused of just steamrolling everybody and not listening to other views,” Barovsky said. “And we’ll be back with 200 people in here [complaining at a City Council meeting], and back where we are [without an ordinance].”
Also, the council made appointments to a task force to study whether the city should buy a 9.8-acre property in Point Dume on the north side of Pacific Coast Highway, off Heathercliff Road. The property is on the market for $4.9 million. Some city officials said it could be used for a City Hall, library, or teen and senior citizen center. Others, including council member Stern, are opposed to the purchase. Stern specified, while making his appointments, that doing so was not an endorsement for the purchase. One of his two appointees, Alan Berliner, lives next to the property.