7 in Hermosa Race Pick Up Pace : Elections: Hermosa Beach voters and council candidates are being asked to take stands on oil drilling, the city’s budget, density and open space.

The race for Hermosa Beach City Council kicked into high gear this week as the seven candidates scrambled to print campaign literature, establish name recognition or build on past council records in a campaign that, until recently, had been decidedly low-profile.

In some respects, the issues facing candidates--and voters--in the Nov. 7 election may impart a sense of deja vu to those familiar with past council contests: the fiscal state of the city, density, oil drilling, the use of open space, the crumbling sewer system and the fate of the Biltmore Hotel site.

Challengers are asking voters whether they want new blood to change the balance on the council or whether they are content with the council’s makeup.

In a novel twist, even the animal kingdom has entered the Hermosa Beach political fray. Voters must decide whether dogs should be leashed or unleashed on the Santa Fe Railroad right of way.

Three council members at-large will be elected to the four-year, $300-a-month council positions. Two incumbents, Mayor June Williams and Councilwoman Etta Simpson, are seeking second terms. The five challengers are journalist Les Barry, engineer Robert Benz, entrepreneur Robert Essertier, City Clerk Kathleen Midstokke and tax attorney Albert Wiemans.

Councilman Jim Rosenberger chose not to run for reelection. Christina Goddard, who filed for a council seat, will appear on the ballots, which were printed before she withdrew from the race Aug. 24.

For some candidates, Hermosa Beach’s financial health continues to be the most pressing issue facing the city. Several cited figures from the city’s April capital improvement budget, which states that the city needs $23.3 million for improvements to the infrastructure in 1989 and ‘90, but has only $3.3 million for repair of streets, the sewer system and other items.

“The main issue is, the city is due to be in dire financial straits,” Benz said.

Benz, 30, also said he was concerned that the council is still seeking funding to complete the $7.5-million purchase of the Santa Fe Railroad right of way.

City Treasurer Gary Brutsch said a 4% utility users tax is being used to repay a $5-million bond debt service on the purchase, but the city still has to find an additional $2.5 million from other sources to complete the purchase. The city is also negotiating to buy the South School site, at a cost estimated to exceed $1 million.

“We can’t afford more debt service until we generate more revenue,” Brutsch said.

All the candidates agreed that the city needs to increase tax revenues and attract new businesses. Several big tax revenue producers, including a major grocery store and a car dealership, are planning to leave town.

Essertier, comparing the functioning of a city to that of a large corporation, questioned whether the incumbent candidates have the financial background to monitor budgeting and other complex financial concerns.

“I don’t think the (business) credentials of the current council are up to standard,” said Essertier, 40, a computer software entrepreneur.

But Williams responded that she has business experience as a licensed real estate broker and that three council members own and manage their own businesses.

“I’ve worked in business areas since I was 18, and since I retired, I’ve managed and lived on my own investments,” Williams said. “I’ve done well with that.”

Similar bright yellow campaign posters of Wiemans and Essertier have appeared side by side around town but both said, appearances aside, they are running independent campaigns.

Essertier has said the council should seek to decrease the amount of business it discusses in closed session. He said the city should step up collections of some fees, including parking tickets.

The two incumbents defended the council’s financial policies. In a forum last week, Mayor Williams said assertions by some of the challengers that the city budget is not balanced are simply unfounded rumors.

Williams, 61, who has espoused quality-of-life issues, also defended the council’s decisions to decrease density citywide.

“My efforts at decreasing density may be a factor in whether I get reelected,” said Williams, who noted that she may have drawn the ire of some voters whose property was affected by the council’s downzoning policies.

On a 4-1 vote with Williams dissenting, the City Council recently rejected a proposed ordinance that would have given the city greater control over the design and scale of large commercial developments. Williams said she would continue to work to establish an environmental review process for such projects.

Midstokke, 39, has served as Hermosa Beach city clerk since 1984, but in her campaign she has asserted her political independence, although emphasizing her experience with city government.

Midstokke, who has also accused the council of poor fiscal management, said a city decision not to make the part-time, $1,000-a-month clerk position full time contributed to her decision to run for council.

Midstokke said she would work to secure open space for public parks and would not participate in a practice of some council members who meet one or two at a time with the city manager to discuss agenda items before council meetings. She said council members should discuss agenda items only in a public forum.

Williams, who said she meets with or calls the city manager each Monday morning, called the meetings “absolutely essential. . . . The purpose is for obtaining information, asking questions on budget items so the council members can get their information before the meeting.”

City Manager Kevin Northcraft called the meetings “very appropriate and needed.”

Attorney Wiemans, 48, has blasted the entire council. “I want every existing member out,” he said.

A vehement opponent of down zoning, Wiemans contends that council members were not justified in acting on a non-binding 1980 advisory vote that called for downzoning. The policy, he said, makes 95% of the city’s residences legally nonconforming. Wiemans threatened to start recall proceedings against the council over the downzoning issue last year but later decided to run for office himself.

Wiemans also said the city should develop programs to combat drug use, get rid of a 6% utility users tax that applies to business owners, work to eradicate an annual budget shortfall that he said runs about $400,000, and cut the size of some departments.

For Benz, known as Burgie, the host of a satiric local cable television show, one challenge was to persuade voters to take his campaign seriously. In recent debates, Benz has emerged as strongly critical of the city’s fiscal planning.

Benz said the main issue is that the capital improvement budget falls far short of meeting the city’s needs. He also said his background as a mechanical engineer would be useful on the council in facing issues, such as the city’s aging infrastructure and oil drilling technology.

Most candidates say oil drilling is no longer an issue. In two 1984 initiatives, voters approved drilling at two sites, and the city has contracted with Macpherson Oil Co. to carry out a drilling plan. Some candidates said oil revenues could provide a source of long-term income to the city, and that the impact of drilling would not be significant if the technology were properly monitored by the city.

The glaring exception to that position is Les Barry.

“Hermosa Beach is only 1.3 square miles, and they want to turn it into an oil field,” said Barry, 66. “It’s not a good thing, no matter how you look at it. It’s ugly, it’s dirty, it’s dangerous.”

According to Barry, who said he served a two-year term in the Vermont Senate in the mid-1950s, oil drilling could dump up to 3 million gallons of water a year into the city’s decrepit sewer system, and more than three dozen trucks daily would travel Valley Drive and other major streets, creating a traffic hazard to schoolchildren.

Barry also said the city would be restricted in how it could spend revenues from drilling on tidelands property. He said he was unsure if the city could break its lease with Macpherson Oil but, if not, officials should modify the drilling plan to prohibit oil processing and storage in the city.

Simpson, 67, a self-described environmentalist, was accused in a recent forum of flip-flopping on the issue of oil drilling, because she joined in a unanimous council vote to give Macpherson additional time to prepare its environmental impact report. Simpson responded that she has been consistent in her reservations about oil drilling in the city for more than 30 years and helped write a ballot argument against the two oil drilling measures on the 1984 ballot.

“I’m not committed to accepting that there is genuine compatibility between oil and playground-residential use,” Simpson said. “I remain to be convinced.”

Simpson, who describes herself as a fiscal conservative, said she would continue to accept only $1 a year to serve on the council. The salary she refuses is returned to the city’s general fund at the end of each fiscal year.

The city Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the environmental impact report Nov. 8, the day after the election. The plan requires approval from the state Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission before drilling could begin.

Then comes the question of dogs--to leash or not to leash.

Two competing ballot measures ask voters to decide whether dogs should be allowed off their leashes on the right of way. The grass-roots Watchdog group is sponsoring Proposition E, an initiative to allow dogs off-leash. The city’s proposed ordinance, Proposition F, specifies that dogs on the right of way must be leashed. A city ordinance requires dogs to be leashed citywide, but the law traditionally has not been enforced on the greenbelt.

Some candidates said whether dogs are leashed is not a significant issue, but incumbent Williams argued that joggers and unleashed dogs are an incompatible mix, and the city could be held liable for incidents involving attacks by unleashed dogs.

Williams said leash laws in effect everywhere else in the city should also be enforced on the right of way. “If (Watchdog’s) dog measure passes,” she said, “we’ve paid $7.5 million for a dog run.”

Barry called the Watchdog initiative flawed and said he favored the city’s proposed ordinance.

Benz said he would not vote for either measure. “It’s a moot point in my assessment until we are sure we own the greenbelt,” he said.

Simpson suggested the city maintain its tradition of allowing dogs to roam free on the strip. “There was nothing on the record to show there’s danger,” Simpson said.

Midstokke cited a city study that found no reported incidents involving dogs on the strip. “I don’t think we need to fix it, if it’s not broke,” Midstokke said.

Essertier said he runs at least twice a week on the strip and has never seen problems with dogs.

Said Wiemans: “If you’re talking about issues, I can’t get excited about whether a dog walks on a leash or not. . . . It’s on the ballot; let the voters decide.”

Thursday was the most recent deadline for filing campaign finance statements. Barry was the top money-raiser, with total reported contributions of $1,344. Williams’ contributions totaled $1,205, including a $1,000 loan to herself. Simpson has raised $868, including a $700 loan to herself. Midstokke reported total contributions of $1,093, with no individual contributions greater than $99. Essertier reported that he did not raise or spend any money. Of the $147.90 cost for his campaign posters, however, he reported a $100 donation from the printer and an outstanding bill of $47.90.

Benz and Wiemans did not meet Thursday’s filing deadline for the most recent reporting period, Midstokke said. Wiemans has previously said he did not plan to accept any contributions. THE CANDIDATES