Huntington Beach will pay up to $1.1 million more to complete oil well abandonment at City Hall

Huntington Beach will pay out up to $1.15 million to complete an oil well abandonment project, but not every member of the conservative City Council is on board with the expenditure.

The panel voted 6-1 on Tuesday night to approve the additional funds for contractor Excalibur Well Services, which has been tasked with abandoning the three oil wells located at the Huntington Beach Civic Center.

The extra expense, which could bring the project total to about $4 million, will allow for the complete abandonment of the third well on the property and will come from the city’s infrastructure fund. Excalibur will cover any project costs that exceed the $1.15 million approved this week; the city and Excalibur will split the difference if it comes in under that amount.

Councilman Don Kennedy was the dissenting vote, a rarity with the current makeup of the council that typically votes in lockstep.

“We started with a $1.1 million not to exceed contract,” Kennedy said. “Lo and behold, we’re about to finish out north of $4 million. I don’t need to get into the details. I can tell you, this was an inefficient process ... and I cannot in good conscience support the additional revenue.”

Huntington Beach City Council member Don Kennedy, center, shown at a council candidates forum last year, cast a dissenting vote Tuesday night.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

During the meeting, Kennedy went as far as suggesting the city should look into filing a lawsuit rather than approving the funds requested.

“I’d be looking for a legal battle,” Kennedy said.

City Attorney Mike Vigliotta responded that an open session meeting was not the proper venue to discuss litigation.

Mayor Pat Burns said he believed that mistakes were made but lessons were learned.

Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon said it was a tough situation, adding that his agenda item was approved at the previous council meeting to initiate a milestone payment policy and would remove similar issues in contracts going forward.

“Like anything, when you start digging up, remodeling a home or doing construction and opening walls, things always pop up,” McKeon said. “I’m sure you can imagine, it’s especially challenging when you’re going down 3,000 feet in an old oil well without consistent plans to know what you’re dealing with.”

One of the oil wells in the City Hall parking lot has been there since 1924, and the other two since 1954. The city took over the property and operation of the wells in 1971, but eventually decided to plug and abandon them due to increased costs and decreased production.

Huntington Beach is seeking to complete abandonment of oil wells at City Hall.

(Matt Szabo)

Huntington Beach seeks alignment with other charter cities

Huntington Beach has often invoked its charter city status in lawsuits about issues including housing and voter identification in recent years. Burns said Gov. Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, as well as some judges, have not respected the city’s status as a charter city.

Burns and McKeon brought forward an item Tuesday night to try to unite Surf City and other charter cities, and the council unanimously approved it. The item directs City Manager Travis Hopkins to implement steps to create a collaborative program.

“There are several cities that are [charter cities], but they can’t fight the fight,” Burns said. “They don’t have the money, they don’t have the city attorney ... but the old saying, there’s power in numbers [is true].”

Burns said Huntington Beach leaders were approached by the city of Porterville in Tulare County about a possible alliance, creating a League of Charter Cities.

The Porterville City Council has been in the news recently for considering a ban of transgender women from women’s bathrooms. That council also recently considered establishing an ordinance that would notify public school parents if their child requests to be identified by a gender different from their biological sex.

Last September, the Huntington Beach City Council passed a similar ordinance declaring the city a ‘Parents’ Right to Know’ city. That ordinance does not affect school district policy but states that educators who work in the city’s libraries, parks or other facilities will not be allowed to withhold information from parents related to a child’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

There are more than 120 charter cities in California. The 10 charter cities in Orange County also include Newport Beach and Seal Beach.