Those in attendance at Redondo Beach’s city-sponsored Waterfront project public meetings very likely saw Marc Mitchell, even if they had no idea who he was.
A former professional football player and born-and-bred Iowan, Mitchell is no small man, making him quite visible despite his preferred post near the rear of each of the three Draft Environmental Impact Report forums.
He’s also a three-term commissioner within the city — once, with the Public Works Commission, starting in 2009, and twice with the Planning Commission, beginning in 2011. His background is in politics where, among other things, he was a field manager for the 2000 presidential campaign for Bill Bradley.
But it’s his day job, working with public relations firm Cerrell and Associates as Vice President of Local Government Relations, that has a resident-led group turning its sights on Mitchell.
Cerrell is currently working with Waterfront project developer CenterCal Properties to promote and market the project. Candace Nafissi, a co-founder of Rescue Our Waterfront, has called out Mitchell’s employment with the firm as grounds for his potential resignation.
“I don’t know why he thinks, morally, that’s OK,” Nafissi said, adding that, were she in his position, she would have resigned. Nafissi currently sits on the city’s Historical Commission.
Nafissi’s stance is that Mitchell’s employment situation raises a significant conflict of interest, given the city’s relationships with CenterCal, AES and real estate developer Legado Companies — all of which have been clients of Cerrell.
There is an issue with that stance, however.
“I am not having to vote on [CenterCal] — and neither is the rest of the planning commission,” Mitchell said.
CenterCal’s Waterfront project, a $400 million redevelopment investment in the city’s harbor area with plans to create 304,098 square feet of net new development, will not go before the Planning Commission.
Instead, the project is mapped to go before the Redondo Beach Harbor Commission and the City Council, even before facing state regulatory boards. The Planning Commission, multiple city officials have confirmed, will not vote on the project.
That didn’t stop District 2 councilman Bill Brand from recommending against Mitchell’s appointment to the commission at the Sept. 1 City Council meeting, drawing Mayor Steve Aspel and city staff to take a closer look at Mitchell’s interests.
The determination, discussed two weeks later on Sept. 15, was that Mitchell was clear — his company had cut ties with Legado by that point and, as Aspel put it, “there’s nothing with AES coming up.”
“I’m not going to approve Mitchell,” Brand said. “He’s a lobbyist, works for a lobbying firm, does lobbying for developers, and I think we can do better than someone who is so conflicted.” Brand voted against him, though he was the only one. Mitchell was appointed in a 4-1 vote.
“Mayor Aspel should never have appointed him to the Planning Commission, and he should not have been confirmed by the rest of the Council. In fact, he should be removed,” Brand said.
“It doesn’t matter where he has a job,” Aspel said. “People are allowed to be on a commission and make a living at the same time. Everyone has a conflict somewhere, and you leave it up to that person’s integrity to recuse themselves — and if they have any question, they should seek the advice of the City Attorney and his staff.”
As Mitchell has done, both seeking counsel from the City Attorney and recusing himself when appropriate, Mitchell said. He further noted that other commissioners and council members have done the same when appropriate.
The city’s process for determining a conflict comes from the California Political Reform Act of 1974, which (in part) prohibits public officials from participating in decisions related to their financial interests. It also requires them to disclose their assets and income via a document known as a Form 700, which city employees and officials file with both the City and the Fair Political Practices Commission each year. That’s in accordance with the City’s own Conflict of Interest Code, which is revisited biannually, and was last updated in Sept. 2014.
“I check in with the City Attorney, the FPPC and City Manager to ensure that I stay on the high ground, always,” Mitchell said. “I’ll continue to do that.”
