The oft-divided Hermosa Beach City Council debated a new issue this weekend: its own dysfunction. By the estimation of a former mayor, the current council is the most dysfunctional in memory. With that in mind, the council sat down with a consultant to discuss a litany of problems on the dais, and how to improve the “toxic” atmosphere of its meetings.
Council members, speaking at an unusual Saturday morning session, discussed the need to shorten seemingly interminable council meetings that start Tuesday evenings and have often stretched into the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Other topics of discussion included how to increase civility by reducing personal attacks on other council members and city staff.
The Saturday “therapy session,” in Councilwoman Carolyn Petty’s words, kicked off with a scathing assessment of the council by former Hermosa mayor George Barks, who took the podium to recommend the council take cues from surrounding cities or seek out his advice to figure out how to more efficiently conduct its business.
“It’s pretty dysfunctional, this city council. I think this is the worst city council, as far as functioning as a team, that I’ve ever seen,” Barks said. “You’re never going to end meetings before 12 o’clock if you don’t change your behavior … You come across like you’re not doing your homework at all. Why are you grandstanding at every meeting?”
The Friday and Saturday workshop was intended as a strategic planning session with consultant Lyle Sumek to review recent performance and set goals. But much of the time was spent on simply trying to improve collegiality and foster decency among council members and staff at a time when tensions at city council meetings are at a high thanks to post-Measure O scandals.
On Friday morning, a parade of discontented residents expressed concern that the city had failed to correctly address the Chris Miller incident, in which anti-oil activist Miller was kicked off the board of the chamber of commerce for allegedly yelling obscenities at officers on the night of the election. Miller and her defenders vehemently deny the allegations.
Residents also expressed concern over the case of Ron Siegel, the subject of a citizen’s arrest by Chamber Chairman Ken Hartley for allegedly throwing anti-oil stickers on Hartley’s driveway – a case that was taken up by the office of the city prosecutor and recently settled.
In both cases, residents said they had difficulty getting access to public records that could help them and their friends. It’s bred further discontent and suspicions that the city is hiding information and acting in bad faith.
“There is a feeling of disdain and anger for the lack of transparency,” said local resident Katrina Bacallao, who filed a formal complaint against City Manager Tom Bakaly for alleged mishandling of public records requests. “We have been systematically denied documents. We have been left with incomplete information. We will never achieve reconciliation until all the facts are on the table. I’m asking you to hold our police department and city manager accountable.”
Local resident Krista Capo, who was the last of 11 people to speak on the topic, agreed.
“It’s such a charade of dishonesty and it’s so disheartening,” she said. “Where’s your honesty, integrity and respect? Our entire city has been disrespected.”
From there, the council had a 40-minute disagreement about the layout of the day’s agenda. Bacallao’s complaint against Bakaly and a performance review of Bakaly were scheduled to be discussed in a closed session, to be held in a conference room out of sight from the public. However, Councilman Hany Fangary and Councilwoman Nanette Barragan objected to discussing some of those matters behind closed doors, citing concerns that it would further compromise transparency and possibly violate the Brown Act, which stipulates that councils in California conduct their business in public except for exceptional circumstances. Fangary threatened to pull out of the discussion, prompting a jab from Petty.
“Accept the fact that at times you will not get what you want,” Petty said. “Lawyers aren’t used to being part of a team. That’s my problem with lawyers. We are not getting any business done when council members do not participate.”
“I don’t think it’s good to be personally attacking professions,” Barragan responded, drawing applause from the audience.
After consulting with City Attorney Mike Jenkins, the council determined it was indeed legal to hold the discussion in a closed session, and adjourned to the conference room.
The episode would serve as a case study for the following morning, when the council would discuss how to address the “toxic” atmosphere of meetings.
“The atmosphere in this room is toxic, and yesterday was a perfect example,” Petty said on Saturday. “What happened with oil is that people were so angry for so long that they can’t break out of it. The feeling with some people is that if they are angry enough they will get whatever they want. These people are creating this horrible dynamic … As leaders of the community we need to change the temperature and take away the conspiracy theories.”
Jenkins agreed that council members have riled up residents to advance their positions instead of engaging in direct policy debate with other council members.
“Members of the public are encouraged to come here and misbehave,” he said. “They’re encouraged to come and say nasty things … Instead of [council members] influencing others through the force of intellect and debate, the feeling is that people have been lined up to express a point of view.”
Sumek noted how unusual it is that audience members at Hermosa council meetings openly applaud some comments, saying it can divide people.
“Applause creates ‘us versus them,’” he said. “In most cities it’s not appropriate … I’ve been teaching governance for 40 years, and this was a rarity to see that applause.”
Barks and Sumek both said there is dysfunctionality on the council. But council members struggled with who to blame.
“It’s hard when you have two-fifths [of council members] who [feel] it’s their way or the highway,” Petty said. “That’s where the dysfunction takes place.”
Fangary disagreed.
“I happen to be one of the two-fifths, I think,” Fangary said. “If the two-fifths put something on the agenda and 11 people come and speak about it, I don’t know if it’s dysfunctional. I think that we’re reacting to the electorate. Calling the two of us dysfunctional is not the way to get us to work as a team.”
Sumek tried to pull the two sides together.
“The council is dysfunctional as a collective body in general,” he said. “Not just two members. Each one of you. Each one of you contributes to the success or functionality of the team.”
The council seemed to all agree, at least, that meetings are running too long, leaving important items to be discussed late at night when much of the public can’t reasonably be expected to attend. Some items are pushed to later meetings, which only creates a future backlog.
The council considered a number of options to shorten meetings, although solutions weren’t entirely forthcoming. One idea was to shorten the maximum time for public comments from three minutes to two minutes. Another was to install a button for council members to push when they have a comment, so the mayor does not need to check with each person individually. The idea of holding more frequent meetings was also entertained.
One reason meetings run so long, Petty said, is that lines of inquiry often go on and on.
“We’re ensnared in this ‘asking mode’ that extends our meetings another 60 minutes,” she said. “It’s a disservice to the community when a preponderance of time is spent on asking questions and we don’t get to urgent items.”
Fangary acknowledged his predilection for question-asking. He said he often asks his series of questions to illustrate points to other council members and the public, even when he is already aware of the answers from doing prior research or talking to staff.
But the preponderance of questions can give the opposite impression.
“This is the most studious group I’ve been around, yet we look like we haven’t done our homework,” said Councilman Michael DiVirgilio, who was elected in 2007. “For five very smart people to be looking like they’re not doing their homework is embarrassing.”
(Tucker is the longest-standing council member of the group, having first been elected in 2003. Barragan, Fangary and Petty were elected in 2013).
DiVirgilio also noted there’s a need for motions of the council to be stated more clearly. Sumek said staff is sometimes confused about exactly what action was taken by the council.
Another reason meetings can go long is that, after a rule change about a year ago, items can be placed on the agenda with the support of just two council members, rather than three. Petty expressed her desire to change it back to lighten the load.
But perhaps the most fundamental problem among the council is that they often appear to simply not get along with one another, or with city staff.
“We need to respect each other,” Mayor Peter Tucker said. “We need to look at how we respect staff. Sometimes we go after staff in a public meeting. If we have problems with staff, we need to go to the city manager instead of doing it in public. It does a disservice to our organization.”
Jenkins agreed and said meetings have also become overly formal and too focused on legal technicalities. He cited how council members rarely address one another or staff by name during meetings, let alone look at the person they’re addressing.
“I’ve become Mr. City Attorney,” he said. “But I’m also Mike. We have ended up using legal technicalities as roadblocks or obstacles. I’ve heard ‘Brown Act’ more times in the past year than in all the years I’ve been city attorney combined. The Brown Act has become this flag-waving thing that in some respects is being used as a roadblock. Some questions come across as attacks, while other questions are just questions. It’s caused us to look over our shoulders all the time and feel a little bit under siege.”
Tucker said during a phone call that he’s aware of the perception that the council is dysfunctional, but he doesn’t think it is. He touted the council’s ability to keep the city running even in the midst of the oil debate as proof.
“Although it might have appeared that way, I think we got a lot of work done,” Tucker said. “If being dysfunctional is what people perceive, you have to put an asterisk there and say ‘work accomplished.’”
In any event, the composition of the council will likely change significantly in just a few months. Terms for Tucker and DiVirgilio are up in November. Barragan, meanwhile, is running for the 44th District Congressional seat, currently occupied by Janice Hahn, and could be leaving the council as a result. Trent Larson, who was a Measure O proponent, has said he’ll run for a council seat, while other challengers are considering a run privately.
Given the state of affairs at City Hall, Barks wondered if people would even want to get involved.
“Maybe the incumbents don’t want competition. Anyone watching [meetings] will say ‘God, I don’t want to run,’” he told the council. “You really need to get it together. You can call me anytime.”
