Redondo Beach shutters public safety commission, cites new era

by Garth Meyer

Redondo Beach has disbanded its public safety commission.

Formed in 1996, it was one of 17 city boards and commissions. It did not have oversight power. 

Police Chief Joe Hoffman and Fire Chief Patrick Butler said the commission had become obsolete in the new era of easier contact with public officials. City Manager Mike Witzansky concurred and on July 1 the city council voted 3-2 to eliminate it.

A revamped, smaller version may replace it. Meanwhile, Austin Carmichael, the chair of the commission hopes to “invalidate the vote” that shut it down.

Mayor Jim Light defended disbanding the commission, saying at the July 1 council meeting, “We’ve heard complaints from committee members, complaints from the public, complaints from staff, reports of misuse of title, inaccurate and inappropriate social media posts, and on and on.” 

The commission came under scrutiny last year when the city council and mayor discussed updating city boards and commissions. Later, Mayor Light volunteered to help with a council referral to review the city’s code of conduct for public meetings. 

As part of this, Light sat down with the police and fire chiefs.

Similarly, according to a July 1 city administrative report, Chiefs Hoffman and Butler went to the mayor to talk about potentially closing the public safety commission, citing police and fire department efforts to keep up with state accountability oversight, and “emphasizing concerns related to laws on department operations, investigative confidentiality, patient privacy, and employee personnel matters specific to uniformed police officers and firefighters, which, if discussed during public meetings, could have unintended consequences.” 

On July 8, a week after the council voted to disband the public safety commission, it voted – by another 3-2 count – to hold a discussion about starting a new, limited, on-call “police, fire and homeless services commission.” 

“I did not go into this wanting to disband the public safety (group),” Mayor Light said at the July 1 council meeting. “But… we’re getting more out of the youth commission… The public safety commission got out of their purview. Some of this has gone far afield. No other beach city surrounding us has a public safety commission.”

“This is not about reducing public input, it’s about modernizing it and strengthening it,” said Police Chief Hoffman, who was once an RBPD lieutenant assigned as the liaison to the city’s public safety commission. “Their recommendations in recent years have had minimal, if any, impact on city council policy or police department operations, and there has been a clear lack of measurable productivity or tangible outcomes.”

Hoffman also listed to the council advancements in police technology, the RBPD website, social media channels, real-time, data-driven community engagement, transparency portals on the website, searchable crime statistics and public sentiment analysis software.

He mentioned qualityoflife@redondo.org and Comcate, the company which runs “Access Redondo,” the  online form on which anyone may fill out and send to a chosen department. 

“… Most importantly, these methods are reflective of how residents prefer to communicate today,” the chief said. “Nobody is coming to meetings to get crime statistics that are a month old.” 

Hoffman said the commission takes up “considerable staff time and resources”; 12.5 % of the liaison officer’s monthly working hours, and eight hours per month of a lieutenant’s time too.

Fire Chief Butler also spoke at the July 1 council meeting.

He referred to his previous experience working for the City of Los Angeles Fire Department, with its 96 neighborhood councils.

“The (Redondo) commission has also been involved in a lot of duplication of effort. Oftentimes commissions create an expectation beyond the scope of their authority,” Butler said. “Really, mission creep. In my time in Redondo Beach, the commission has been a significant draw on resources and staff. There is a lot of legal oversight that really, kind of bars us from going into further discussion, and because there’s mission creep, it can affect or even create some liability for the department.”

“We communicate (now) in real-time with the public,” he continued. “I think public engagement is important… within 10 minutes of an incident there’ll be some type of communication from the police department, public works for street closures, etc.”

City Manager Mike Witzansky gave his view.

“This is a tough issue,” he said. “On its face, the perception is, the city is looking to shut down a line of communication with the residents, what are they hiding? … You have to look deeper and understand this issue structurally.”

“Everybody on that commission is well-meaning,” he said, adding that Redondo Beach is among a small number of California cities with 10 or more commissions.

“We are far outpacing other cities with 70,000 residents.”
In the past year the city has discontinued its library commission and recreation and parks commission.

“(Without commissions) who’s going to provide oversight? That’s the mayor and council’s job, and you do that everyday,” Witzansky said. “This is the most active city council I’ve ever worked for. It is the most responsive I’ve ever worked for.”
He said that the public safety commission is “set up to fail.”

“It can only evaluate what we do retrospectively,” he said, noting that in the event of a civil case, or police or fire internal affairs investigation, the information cannot be discussed. “We can’t give the commission timely information… It may not even be just for 30 days, it may be years before we can have a constructive dialogue. 

“So the commission has to seek something else, they have to seek alternative value,” Witzansky said. “They’ve done good work, this isn’t personal. The commission was a constructive feedback chamber for us in 1996. It was a unique residents’ perspective. We get that 100-fold today through our different channels.”

Mayor Light cited “lack of any real mission.”

Councilman Brad Waller said, “I’ve gone back and forth on this. It does seem that maybe there’s a mismatch in the mission. Perhaps a narrowing of the focus is needed.”

The city estimates $50,000 per year is spent in staff time and expenses to run the commission.

During public input July 1, commission member Gil Escontrias said, “Sometimes it appears that we are being stonewalled.”

Daniella Wodnicki, a commissioner for the past year, said she has dedicated her career to public service, calling for “structure and guidance, not elimination.”

“This has been the only city to take an interest in truck traffic,” said resident John Perchulyn. 

Another resident said, “I spent seven years trying to get a councilmember to respond to an e-mail about traffic by Tulita Elementary School. What do you do when you get zero response from your councilmember?”

“This isn’t on the level of Nixon firing Archibald Cox, but it’s in the same category,” said District Three resident Jess Money.

Public Safety Commission member Nancy Skiba said, “I hate to say it, but in regards to us not bringing information to the council or accomplishing things; we have made many efforts to make referrals to staff or council, but our police officer liaison says he’s too busy, he’s got too much on his plate… We feel we’re being blocked. My question is what would Bill Brand do?”

“It’s hard to say what Bill would do right now, he’s not here,” said Mayor Light. “Anyone else?”

The chair of the public safety commission, Austin Carmichael stepped to the podium. 

He talked about comparisons.

“Let’s not compare ourselves to others; because we want to put forth cannabis stores, and they are in no other beach city,” he said. “Let’s not do that. Let’s not be intellectually dishonest.

“We’re obsolete? Are you kidding me? …You all do not respond to the e-mails and various ways you say that you can get in touch with folks, and folks can get in touch with you.

“Operational interference. My apologies, Mr. Butler, we insisted that you interview and hire a female firefighter. That’s the only operational interference we have had.”

(Chief Butler told Easy Reader later in response, “They had absolutely nothing to do with that, or with any of my hiring selections. I hire employees based on competency, character and their ability to do the job. I am not sure where that comment came from.”)

“Bring forth the stats. How many e-mails do you get, phone calls, how many do you respond to?” Carmichael said. “If you’re going to make this decision, make it credibly.”

Resident Carissa Robinson said, “Why not modernize it and improve it rather than eliminate it altogether? We’re also the only city that does ranked-choice voting. Sometimes leading means doing what others haven’t yet done.

“If you truly believe there is a better alternative, the community deserves to see what that looks like in detail. Vague promises are not enough.”

Purview

The seven-member Redondo Beach public safety commission is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council. Its official purpose is to “advise the mayor and council on matters relating to public safety, crime prevention, (and) help serve as the citizen’s voice in public safety affairs, provide suggestions for ensuring responsive and efficient public safety services, review public safety legislation when appropriate, and directed by the city council, collaborate on, promote, and support community policing programs, and perform such other duties, as directed by the city council.”

A resident called in a comment to the July 1 meeting, saying she was “absolutely furious” this was on the agenda. She mentioned campaign endorsements for Light from police and fire department representatives in this year’s election. 

“This smacks of public records requests that you don’t want to respond to,” she said.

A total of 12 e-comments were submitted, all in favor of keeping the commission.

“There is nothing about oversight,” Mayor Light said. “ It’s advice for the council on broad public safety and crime prevention issues.” 

He added that anyone may submit public records requests and that, “Truck traffic, that is the public works and sustainability commission. Bike lanes – public works and sustainability commission.”

He maintained that the public safety commission had drifted far from their job description – “micro-chipping cats, giving awards, looking for fraud and audits…”

“If the council wants me to write this up as an oversight committee, we can change the whole structure, but we’ll have to look at budget impacts,” Light said.

Commission Chair Carmichael told Easy Reader later, “Number one, micro-chipping cats, was an agenda item about micro-chips for dogs, to help reunite them with owners, and someone asked if we should do it for cats and we all said no. Secondly, we weren’t looking specifically for waste and fraud, but for the Enhanced Response to Homelessness. If it was going to have longevity and how is the homeless program being managed out of the city attorney’s office going to ensure that? Third, giving awards. The (recreation and parks) commission used to give service awards to volunteers, and we wanted to give awards to longtime volunteers in policing.”

City Councilman Scott Behrendt spoke.

“Is there a solution short of complete elimination of this commission? There’s got to be a way for citizens to interact with our public service departments in this formal setting.”

“Tighten it up, make it more focused, reign it in, limit meetings… maybe we need to do a better job as a city council (directing them).”

He noted that the council gets weekly crime reports, “but the analysis isn’t there.”

Behrendt said that other cities in Los Angeles County do have public safety commissions, and asked the city manager for his further thoughts.

 “All of those are options,” Witzansky said. “Could we merge some of these into a single commission? Absolutely… You could apply the term public safety to just about anything…” 

Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr.: “I feel there’s a lot of lack of deference (to police and fire chiefs/personnel). We’ve done everything to make this commission successful. We’ve gotten zero work product from them for strategic planning. I don’t see that the juice is worth the squeeze.” 

He referred to a meeting last year, for which he invited two public safety commission members to his home, at their request to discuss the commission. He said that it did not “bring to fruition the productivity and civility I hoped to see from the public safety commission.”

Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic mentioned “Coffee with a Cop,” “Citizens Academy,” and social media.

“The list goes on in how we are getting resident’s answers,” she said. “We have so many other ways that citizens have a voice… I feel it’s morphed into the commission being the council’s voice. We haven’t said a single topic (tonight) that wouldn’t fit neatly in another commission.” 

Councilman Chadwick Castle talked about “a disconnect on what the commission is supposed to do. A perception is that it’s an oversight commission. But we want to make sure we give the public a voice.”

Obagi, Jr., made the motion to close the commission. Kaluderovic seconded it. Behrendt offered a substitute motion to narrow the commission’s focus, or combine it with another. Councilman Waller seconded it but the 3-2 vote followed to shut down the commission.

A week later, Behrendt made his call for a discussion about creating a “police, fire and homeless services commission” to address issues related to quality of life. 

“Solely an advisory panel,” he said.

Waller seconded his motion.

Councilmember Kaluderovic voted no, but said, “I like this out of the box thinking… (though) I feel like it just adds a layer that is unnecessary.”

Obagi voted “yes, just to have a discussion” and Councilman Castle voted to approve. 

Behrendt’s commission would be an advisory, on-call group of five residents who would review – on an as-requested basis – contracts, funding, legislative, and policy initiatives that affect quality of life, along with other major concerns.

The group would have “very limited and restricted powers” and no power to agendize. 

This discussion is expected to arrive on the council’s agenda in the near future.

Further Obagi

The Redondo Beach Public Safety Commission is now unofficially gone. 

The July 1 vote directed city staff to write an ordinance, which will need to be voted on by the council to formally disband it.

“Easy Reader earlier quoted Councilman Behrendt that he’s not hearing any clamoring for cannabis stores in Redondo Beach; I’m not hearing residents clamoring about needing a public safety commission in Redondo Beach to advise the council,” Obagi said.

So if a resident has a concern about police or fire department actions, what should they do?

“E-mail their city council members, the whole council, e-mail the mayor, the city manager,” Obagi said. “If it’s legit, somebody is going to make a referral and take it to the city manager.”

As for where public safety may or may not go regarding city commissions, his suggestion is that it be added to the public works and sustainability commission.

Commission chair

Austin Carmichael, the (now former) public safety commission chair, gave his further views in a public comment at the July 1 meeting. 

He referred to how this matter came up as “whiplash,” citing the meeting’s administrative report, which stated that Chiefs Hoffman and Butler approached the mayor to ask about ending the public safety commission. Their reasoning was, since 1996, “oversight at the state level has become more prescriptive, requiring the city’s police and fire departments to dedicate more time and energy to comply with an evolving set of regulations designed to promote accountability and transparency in public safety operations.” 

The city staff report continued: “… Both chiefs expressed concerns that substantive discussion of operational issues during public safety commission meetings could inadvertently place the city at risk of violating these state and federal laws… Given these constraints, the fire and police chiefs approached the mayor to discuss the possibility of eliminating the public safety commission and exploring alternative structures that would 1. maintain transparency, while also respecting the legal rights and confidentiality requirements of operations, investigations and public safety personnel, and 2. provide other opportunities for current commissioners to serve in more efficient and productive ways.”

“You said we were putting the city at risk, and you don’t even mention it (at the city council meeting),” Carmichael said.

“We’re going to do everything to invalidate the (council’s) vote,” he said. “I can’t speak for other commission members, but I know the community is. It’s not about us vs. them, it’s about the credibility of what’s been put forward.

“They’re right about you can (ask them a question),” said Carmichael, referring to qualityoflife@redondo.org and Comcate/”Access Redondo,” “But the public will never know what was said.”

At one point July 1 when Mayor Light was speaking, Carmichael spoke over him from the seats, causing the mayor to stop and tell him he was violating meeting rules. The former chair told Easy Reader the interruption was strategic. He was hoping to get the mayor on record about an alleged public denial about public records requests.

Carmichael was appointed to the public safety commission in 2023 for a seven-year term. 

A human resources consultant, he moved to Redondo Beach three years ago.

All told, he remains amenable to another version of a public safety commission, or just phasing it out. 

“Update the ordinance, to say ‘in addition to commission, we have these other avenues that we’d like the public to take advantage of. We’ll be coming to meetings to explain how they all work and will provide data on usage during the police report each month. 

“If this is to be done, it must be done credibly. At some point, then hey, a conversation about the public safety commission needing to start winding down, I’d totally be open to that – as long as we are able to show the community they are still being heard in a substantive manner.” ER