Mayor Ken Kearsley says his opponents are more concerned about their position in the local political landscape rather than having a purpose.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
The City Council reorganized at Monday’s meeting as it elected Ken Kearsley to serve as mayor and Jeff Jennings to take the post of mayor pro tem. Also, Andy Stern and Sharon Barovsky were sworn in for their new council terms.
In his inaugural speech, Kearsley said he believed the people serving on the council had run for their positions and were involved in local politics for “purpose rather than position,” while their opponents, Kearsley said, had a different motivation.
“There were those people who opposed our goals for the simple reason of position,” said Kearsley, who said that the current council has accomplished a great deal while not caring who gets credit for doing it.
Kearsley added that he had several goals for his yearlong mayoral term, including securing as much as $7 million for the design and construction of the park at the Chili Cook-Off site, moving along various public works projects that are stalled, solving the road sinking problem on Rambla Vista, actively pursuing a program for increasing the number of sports fields and focusing on completing and implementing the Malibu Coastal Vision project, the long-term city visioning program spearheaded by Kearsley.
“Without a blueprint for the future, we will be condemned to putting out the fires of the past,” Kearsley said.
He concluded his remarks by saying Malibu was a better place since he started serving on the council. Kearsley then addressed his critics (none attended the meeting), who he said “wallow in the cult of complaint,” by telling them that although the council, in his opinion, had already accomplished a great deal, “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
In his closing words as outgoing mayor, Stern thanked those who helped him get re-elected. He also expressed delight in the fact that for the first time in Malibu history, there were no changes in the council membership after a regular election.
An emotional Stern kept his speech short and declined to receive the usual outgoing mayor award because he wanted to get home to his wife, Norma Levy, who was scheduled for major surgery on Tuesday. Stern said he had thought about not attending Monday’s meeting because of his wife’s condition, but he came because he wanted to be with his colleagues on the council.
The council will hold its next meeting, its first with newly hired City Manager Jim Thorsen, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for a quarterly review session at City Hall.