by Elka Worner
After five years of being closed for repairs, the Clark Community Building is open for meetings and other events, city officials said at the April 18 Capital Improvement Program Study Session.
“I absolutely understand this one’s been on the books for a long time,” Public Works Director Joe SanClemente said at the meeting to discuss the city’s infrastructure projects. “But we were able to really focus on getting that design done and getting it out to bid.”
SanClemente said the building is open for limited use while bids for additional improvements are reviewed.
“After five years, we’re so excited to finally be back in what we feel is our home,” Woman’s Club of Hermosa Beach board member Deloris Gantner said following the meeting.
SanClemente said one of the major priorities last year was to finish the Parks Restroom Project, which included bathrooms at Clark Field and South Park. The city was also able to fix sidewalks on Longfellow, install new lights on the Pier and install wheelchair access mats on the beach, he said.
“Over the past year, we are pleased to report that our focused efforts resulted in significant progress on many of our current 55 capital improvement projects,” City Manager Suja Lowenthal said.
But some city councilmembers and residents expressed frustration that major projects were not being completed on time and on budget.
Councilmember Dean Francois said he was concerned about the “deteriorating condition” of the 14 Street Beach restrooms. He asked why the improvements were pushed back two to three years. He also wanted to know why the Kelly Court renovations were delayed. Some pickleball courts are closed because of needed repairs.
SanClemente said staff had to focus on higher priority projects. Staff shortages were another reason he said many projects could not get done.
Resident Anthony Higgins said the Clark Building has been on the books for five years, “and we still don’t have a bid.” There’s no design for the City Yard and the Parks Restroom Project took seven years to complete, Higgins added.
“Why did it take so long? What went wrong? Why do you tell us ‘Oh it went great once we found a qualified contractor’? Well it took seven years to find a qualified contractor?” he said referring to the Parks Restroom Project.
Higgins said he was also surprised to see the estimated cost for City Yard improvements increase from $2 million six years ago to $20 million.
City Manager Lowenthal also blamed staff shortages for project delays, saying “recruitment and staff retention remains a time sensitive and difficult process.”
The Public Works Department has four vacancies: two senior engineers, one associate engineer and one engineering technician. Engineering staffing is at 60 percent of the budgeted positions, which has limited the city’s ability to get projects done on time.
“Hard as it may be for you to acknowledge, this city now has a track record of late delivery and overspending on multiple projects and that impacts life in this city and confidence in this administration,” resident John Burry said.
“Residents in this city are tired of continuously being asked to buy this city out of problems that this administration keeps behaving its way into.”
Councilmember Rob Saemann asked why the city was spending more than a million dollars to landscape and install a water irrigation system at a city-owned parking lot on Manhattan Avenue and 14th Street, behind the Underground bar.
“Do you want to spend $1.8 million to landscape a parking lot and put in a water irrigation system? What does the city really need? Does it need a landscaped parking lot or does it need more parking?”
He said the city should consider building a two-story parking structure on the site, doubling the parking spaces there. He noted it would help replace parking spaces lost to the dining decks.
Councilmember Ray Jackson said he was concerned that the tsunami warning system had not been installed after two years and four different emergency management coordinators.
“When you do have these vacancies filled in fits and starts, it does impact the longer-term project delivery,” Lowenthal said.
“I understand, but the fact that we are no closer after two years plus, I’m just flummoxed right now,” Jackson said.
“If there is a drop in staff then we have to figure out how to find somebody else to pick up the ball. We can’t just let things languish because we don’t have a particular person specifically to do that job,” Jackson said.
Councilmember Mike Detoy said the city needs to closely adhere to a timeline and budget on every project. He said his top five infrastructure priorities are the Clark Building, City Yard, sewers, street and sidewalk repairs and downtown lighting and safety. He suggested putting aside $4 million a year to repave the city streets.
“There has been a lot of deferred maintenance in this town, not just in civic facilities but the sidewalks. We need to make sure we have beautiful facilities and that includes everything we walk on to everything we don’t see and the buildings around town, including the bathrooms. Our community deserves and our visitors deserve the best in the world because we live in one of the best places in the world.” ER
