Malibu’s newest City Councilmember making a meaningful impact after two destructive fires
A mere three hours after being sworn in as Malibu’s newest City Councilmember, Haylynn Conrad faced her first emergency as the Franklin Fire bore down on Serra and Malibu Canyons, taking out nine homes and damaging roughly a dozen more.
Still wearing her swearing-in dress, Conrad raced to the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). For the next week, the mother of two spent most days at Zuma Beach with firefighters.
“I learned all about the different command levels and emergency communications,” she said. “They mobilized and it was really impressive.”
She spent the week attending meetings with LA and Cal Fire officials and, of course, Malibu City Council meetings that were moved to Calabasas. In a gesture of goodwill, Conrad returned to Calabasas to thank Malibu’s neighboring city for the use of its facilities all while running around town delivering donuts to firefighters and staffers at the EOC.
After landing in the deep end on her first night on the council and grateful there were no deaths or injuries in the Franklin Fire, Conrad experienced the relative calm of Malibu’s regular fraught issues of ballfields and PCH safety, but that relative calm didn’t last long when the deadly Palisades Fire swept through Malibu, taking with it 720 structures in Malibu alone.
Seeing immediate need in the grief of the tragedy, Conrad got busy first securing $750,000 for Malibu’s community brigade from an anonymous donor. That philanthropist reached out to Conrad.
“They’re very generous and they also gave to Altadena, Pasadena, and the Palisades,” she said.
She was also able to secure $250,000 for Sheriff’s Capt. Jennifer Seetoo’s Malibu/Lost Hills Station. Another anonymous donor through Conrad matched those funds again for the station. She helped facilitate the donations to the station’s nonprofit arm so money can go to Seetoo’s real-time watch center, including fire response.
Then, the new councilmember was able to secure Starlink hookups for Malibu public schools.
“I got them for all of the schools in the Santa Monica school district too because I’ve learned that if you’re going to give to the district you have to give equitably,” Conrad said. “I made sure they were installed properly at our schools.”
When power and internet are down, the Starlinks allow connectivity through satellite. The kits run around $500 each with some running into the thousands. She estimates she distributed roughly 25.
Conrad thinks the brigade will use the funds for a fire engine and that Seetoo will supply the real-time emergency operations center with more cameras.
With an affinity for Malibu’s senior population, Conrad is working with a Malibu resident who spoke passionately at a fire town hall about helping Malibu’s older residents who are medically vulnerable and need immediate assistance post-Palisades Fire.
“I put together a task force that’s not really through the City of Malibu,” Conrad said. “I kind of go rogue a little bit because I can’t wait for bureaucracy, I can’t. I hate the red tape.”
Conrad and a group of roughly 10 others, including a registered nurse, are assisting area seniors.
“It’s not citywide yet and I would love for it to be. I would love for it to get more traction but right now it’s maybe 15 people in a text message and somebody might have a medical issue,” Conrad said. “Besides calling 911 it’s sort ofsupport. If somebody has questions about a hard closure or soft closure … these people have nurses, they have caretakers, and some of them may or may not be able to get into Malibu.”
The task force is also helping medically vulnerable non-seniors.
“These are just residents, not an official city program. If you notice, the city is trying really, really hard, but is spread so thin,” Conrad said adding that out of frustration she’s taking action with others now privately.
During the fire, Conrad found time to help evacuate local animals. After the fire, she jumped into action, facilitatingdonations to different disaster centers, including $5,000 worth of new clothing for Boys & Girls Club Malibu.
Now Conrad wants to hear from more residents. She’s advertising an initiative, “Hangin’ with Haylynn” for conversations about Malibu issues. The first hangout is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Howdy’s. She intends to meet at different local businesses each week to help support them and invites residents so she can lend a compassionate ear.
“I don’t claim to have all the answers certainly, but I do think it’s nice for people to sit with somebody who is elected or they voted for and maybe vent to them about the fire, or cry or laugh a little,” Conrad said. “Whatever I can do, they could have a concern and maybe I can try to find out an answer. I’m the type of person that loves to help.”