Huntington Beach City Council candidates participate in online forum

Perhaps the most well-known of this fall’s Huntington Beach City Council candidates was out of the country on Tuesday.

Former mixed martial arts star Tito Ortiz said he was on vacation in Mexico, planned before the novel coronavirus pandemic. Technology still helped him attend a virtual Zoom forum hosted by the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by the Robert Mayer Leadership Academy.

Each of the 15 candidates attended the online forum, which lasted two hours and was open to the public. They’re vying for three available spots on the City Council, with the election set for Nov. 3.

None of the candidates is currently on the council, though Matthew Harper and Billy O’Connell have served previously. The other candidates include, in alphabetical order: John Briscoe, Brian Burley, Sonya Green, Amory Hanson, Dan Kalmick, Thomas LaParne, Casey McKeon, Jeff Morin, Natalie Moser, Oscar Rodriguez, Eric Silkenson and Gracey Van Der Mark.

Each candidate made opening and closing statements and was asked his or her opinion on two questions posed by moderator Dianne Thompson.

The first question was how each candidate would plan to take care of maintenance needs at some of the 77 parks in the city, with the revenue challenges due to COVID-19.

Rodriguez, who said he tries to run at Central Park every day, said he would prioritize emergencies, while Moser talked about dealing with the homelessness problem to alleviate some of the strain on the parks.

Harper, who served as Huntington Beach mayor in 2013-14, warned against the dangers of overpromising funds. Burley, who is also a fiscal conservative, said it was important to keep spending enough of the budget on infrastructure, per the city charter.

“It takes good financial leadership at the executive level, but more importantly, it takes financial discipline and responsibility from among the City Council members to be able to make a difference on this issue,” Harper said.

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LaParne touted his experience in Eagle Scouts and said he wished to implement a “Save our Parks” program to make local parks a priority, while Silkenson, O’Connell and McKeon each brought up the benefits of branding and corporate sponsorship opportunities for the parks.

“We talk about the skate park, and it’s the Vans Skate Park,” Silkenson said. “Why not Home Depot Lake Park?”

Kalmick said a parks conservancy is the solution, while Briscoe called the parks “shabby.”

“What children need today are flat, level playing fields,” he said. “We need to provide what those families need, and we’re not.”

The second question Thompson presented was whether or not the candidates would have cast any votes that differed from decisions made in the last year by the council majority.

Several candidates, including LaParne, Van Der Mark, O’Connell and Morin, criticized the City Council’s handling of the “Pipeline project.” The city had tabbed 15311 Pipeline Lane as a site for a homeless shelter, but after protests and being sued due to the proposed project’s location in a strictly industrial area, the council voted to sell the property for a loss of nearly $80,000.

“I believe that those oversights did postpone a shelter from going up, and it prevented our law enforcement from enforcing the laws and keeping our community safe,” Van Der Mark said.

Harper and Silkenson said they opposed council members’ approval of raises for city staff in April during the coronavirus pandemic.

Moser said she disagreed with the council voting to sue the state over beach closures, a case the city ended up losing. She agreed with Kalmick that a mask mandate should be in place during the pandemic.

“If we wear a mask, we can get open,” Kalmick said. “We need to make sure it’s enforced, like Costa Mesa is doing.”

Burley and McKeon indicated that they would have voted with Councilman Erik Peterson to deem every business essential during the pandemic.

More candidate forums are expected as the election gets closer.

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