Mayor’s Gavel Changes Hands at Council Reorganization Meeting

• Modified Term of Office Now Means that Every Member Is Automatically Rotated into the Post

BY BILL KOENEKER

Outgoing Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich, after serving 9.6 months in office, turned over the gavel this week at a special city council meeting to incoming Mayor Andy Stern.
Stern briefly talked about the changes in the length of term of mayor which formerly was for one year. Without going into details, the new mayor talked about how the length of term last year was modified. “It set the tone of the council. Everybody would not have had a chance to be mayor,” he added.
Stern said Malibu is a small town with a small budget but with grand objectives. “When the state was about to throw the kids off the Bluff, we bought it. When they wanted to build a shopping center on Chili Cook off we bought it,” he said.
Stern recalled he was recently speaking to his colleague, Councilmember Sharon Barovsky, and they were talking about how much was yet to be done and about how soon the two would be termed out of office.
The incoming mayor said there is still a lot to be accomplished. “We are going to sprint,” he said, referring to the race to get objectives met.
Stern ticked off a comprehensive list that he wanted to see accomplished under his watch: Construction of a stormwater facility at Ramirez Canyon, the start of construction on Legacy Park, completion of the signal at Pacific Coast Highway at Corral Canyon Road, start-up on the construction of Trancas Canyon Park, installation of Bluffs Park playground equipment, finishing up the design of the Civic Center wastewater facility, opening of the lumberyard shopping center, work on getting a City Hall, and improvement of the school campus.
“That is a lot of stuff. We are small town of 13,000 people. But we want to accomplish a lot.”
During her outgoing remarks, Conley Ulich announced she had issued a state of the city address that was posted on the city’s website in both written and video form and would touch on the highlights of that address at the council meeting.
Conley Ulich said of all the accomplishments she thought the most outstanding was getting residents to participate in civic life.
She also mentioned that Malibu, quite unlike the state and many other cities and counties, is sound financially, boasting of a $12 million surplus.
The outgoing mayor also mentioned how public safety will always be a component of life in Malibu and praised the city’s role in coordinating and participating in a variety of emergency preparedness events.
As a government official, she stressed that during a major catastrophe, residents can’t rely on government. “You must practice self-reliance. My other message is equally important. Property can be replaced, people cannot,” he said.
Conley Ulich ticked off a laundry list of preparedness measures residents should take into account from food supplies to CERT training to signing up for reverse 911.
Moving on to other topics, she acknowledged her council colleagues’ strong stance in opposition to overnight camping and the latest proposed LNG terminal.
She also spoke on how clean water still remains a top priority for the city and how much money the city has already spent on achieving that goal.
“It is not acceptable for children to get staph infections when they are swimming or surfing in our ocean waters. The beaches are still unsafe. We need funds to clean up the water,” she said.