Nick Tell to be sworn in as Manhattan Beach mayor
Nick Tell and his wife, Valerie Tell, with their four kids: Nicholas, Natalie, Connor and Jessica PHOTO BY ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
It looked like family night at the Manhattan Beach Country Club – tables of toddlers filled the dining room. Soon-to-be Mayor Nick Tell sat at a table with a soda, greeting passersby as he waited for his own family to join him.
Minutes later, four kids ran around the corner. The first to greet dad was Jessica, a happy four-year-old with a head of golden brown curls pinned back with a pink bow. Nicholas, 10, Natalie, 8, and Connor, 7, trailed behind her with their mom, Valerie Tell.
“Nick, how was baseball camp?” Tell asked his oldest son as they got seated.
“Fun,” Nicholas replied, as his siblings grabbed crayons and began coloring the SpongeBob and Little Mermaid coloring pages.
The father of four will be sworn in as Mayor of Manhattan Beach on Tuesday, a position each councilmember serves once for nine months during their four-year term. This will mark Tell’s second term as mayor, and his seventh year on the council. “It’s an opportunity to really get out there and spend more time with the residents and really connect with them,” he said.
During his term, Tell plans to roll out Vitality City, an initiative presented by the Beach Cities Health District to promote physical, emotional and environmental well-being within the community. A Gallup poll collected last October found that the beach cities suffered in emotional well-being, stress and obesity. Tell hopes to implement the initiative’s suggestions for healthier living on an individual, business and community-wide level.
For example, Tell will continue Mayor Richard Montgomery’s “Coffee Dialogue” program with a walking element. “Let’s go take a walk down the Strand and talk about issues for the city,” Tell explained, adding that this program will take place at 9 a.m. on council-meeting Tuesdays.
Other city-wide initiatives Tell plans to oversee as part of Vitality City include consolidating vending machines to provide healthier choices to employees, encouraging parents and seniors to walk children to school instead of driving, and starting a community garden. In 2013, Gallup will conduct another survey of the city to assess Vitality City’s impact on the community.
Tell is thrilled to serve as mayor during the city’s Centennial. “One of the best ways to reduce stress,” he said, “is to throw a big party,” something he’s now helping plan for next year.
Serving on city council, however, isn’t always one big party. “Our biggest challenge,” Tell said, “has been the economy and what’s been going on at City Hall, where we have a commitment to a balanced budget and not going into the reserves and having to, as a result, put lot of pressure on staff to implement that.” He added, “Having to replace our long-time city manager has just created a lot more stress at City Hall.”
On balancing council duties, work and family obligations, Valerie Tell noted that her husband doesn’t need much sleep. “He’s a night person and a morning person,” she said.
“Me?” asked Nicholas.
“Not you,” Valerie Tell said with a laugh. “Daddy.”
Tell’s children enjoy the perks that come with city council – they’ve eaten dinner at the fire house, slid down the fire pole, participated in holiday parades and lighting the pier on Christmas. “They love that,” Valerie Tell said.
Born in California but raised in Chicago, Tell moved to Manhattan Beach just over two decades ago. “I view it as coming back to my roots and nice weather that I missed so much,” he said.
When he first moved, though, he thought he would only stay for a couple of years. “I discovered Manhattan Beach has its own sense of neighborhood,” Tell said, which has kept him around. “It’s always been that connection and the fact that people are much more down to earth and really do appreciate what we’ve got.”