Vacant Huntington Beach City Council seat has no shortage of applicants

The city of Huntington Beach is aiming to fill its open City Council seat, vacated when Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz resigned, by late July.

It’s a hot seat, indeed.

There are 182 people listed as applicants on the city’s website. Applications closed on June 18.

The City Council will conduct interviews with prospective candidates on July 9 and 10, City Manager Oliver Chi said. The final deliberations and appointment are scheduled to occur at the council meeting on July 20.

The applicants include the two candidates who finished fourth (Gracey Van Der Mark) and fifth (Oscar Rodriguez) last November, when Ortiz, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser were elected to the three available spots.

Many residents have said Van Der Mark, who is currently a planning commissioner along with Rodriguez, deserves the spot since she was the first runner-up in the election. The council, though, has no obligation to consider that in its decision.

Other familiar names have also applied for the open seat, including Jill Hardy, who termed out last December following her second eight-year term. Hardy was mayor of Huntington Beach in 2005 and 2015.

“Since leaving the City Council last December, I have tried to give myself and my family a break,” Hardy wrote in her application for the open seat. “However, that just isn’t in my nature. For example, I worked with the Youth Board as they planned this year’s virtual Youth in Government Days and I continue to attend southeast HB meetings. I also served on a sub-committee of the Downtown Business Improvement District that looked at revenue-generating opportunities for the Downtown BID.”

Also among the applicants is Devin Dwyer, who served on the City Council before losing a reelection bid in 2012. During his tenure, Dwyer made news for his unsuccessful agenda item that would have posted the photos of repeat drunk driving offenders on the Huntington Beach Police Department’s Facebook page.

Dwyer said in his application that he wants to return to “help the current Council find a nonpartisan cohesive strategy that will get the public’s buy-in.” He added that he wished to be a vote that would not be swayed by political pressures and hopes for higher office.

Others who applied for the seat included Jeff Morin, Billy O’Connell and Thomas LaParne, who finished ninth, 10th and 14th respectively among 15 candidates in last November’s election. O’Connell is a former City Council member who lost his 2018 reelection bid.

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