The City Council this week voted unanimously to create a stormwater committee. The committee will include residents appointed by each of the five council members District Four Council Member/Mayor Schelly Sustarsic and District Three Councilwoman/Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Landau will be the council members of the committee.
The deadline for members of the public to apply is Friday, May 31.
The council will review applications to the stormwater committee on June 24, according to the staff report.
Council discussion
District Two Council Member Tom Moore asked for clarification that there would be seven members on the committee. He wanted an odd number of members on the committee.
“So that if there’s a vote, it’s definitive,” Moore said.
“The count here is five residents and two council members for a total of seven,” Lee said.
The focus of the committee will be on stormwater improvements and funding, Public Works Director Iris Lee told the council.
“The parking committee was eight,” Moore said.
“Is this going to focus strictly on College Park East and their flooding issue or focused on citywide?” asked District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.
“The intent of this committee is currently structured for citywide,” Lee said.
According to Lee, if the council wanted to change the scope of the committee, that is open to whatever direction the council provided.
“When I proposed an ad hoc committee, I was thinking specifically about College Park East,” Steele said.
He said he wasn’t opposed to including Old Town flooding issues or flooding on PCH. “It just seems like College Park East is so unique in their situation and their flooding problem, and it’s been around with them forever,” Steele said.
“I’m hoping that the committee will be able to focus on funding,” Steele said.
He said he was hoping the committee would focus on College Park East rather than District One.
District One Council Member Joe Kalmick said in District One they have identified over a period of many years the causes of flooding.
“There have been projects identified that would definitely help, it’s just a question of if and when they can be funded,” Kalmick said.
“I don’t think, unless I’m missing something that’s happening in Old Town, I think the focus at least initially should be College Park East,” Kalmick said.
He agreed the focus needed to be on financing.
Steele asked if that needed to be incorporated into the motion.
“It should be a citywide thing,” Moore said.
Steele asked if the city had an idea of costs.
Lee said there were focus studies of certain areas of Seal Beach, including College Park East.
Moore said it was a bad precedent to focus on just one part of the city.
Steele said College Park East has been a problem for the last 50 years.
Steele said he would rather focus on College Park East in order to get the funding needed rather than taking a citywide focus.
Moore said the committee would look at College Park East as part of their task.
“What is their task?” Steele asked.
“It’s right here,” Moore said, tapping a document with the back of his hand.
“We’re going to look at the entire city come up with some solutions for potential funding and look at what makes sense,” Moore said.
“How can you look at just one area of the city without looking at the entire city?” Moore asked.
“It comes out of the townhall that we had,” Steele said. He was apparently referring to the March 21 townhall meeting. (See “A flood of frustration” at sunnews.org.)
“If Old Town wants to have an ad hoc committee, they can have a committee,” Steele said.
“If it costs $2 million to fix one part of the city and it’s going to fix it permanently, are we going to just focus on College Park East?” Moore asked.
District Three Councilwoman Lisa Landau, who was participating remotely, asked if she could say something.
She said it was too much to ask staff to run two different ad hoc committees.
Landau said she was concerned for College Park East residents, but residents of her district also had issues with flooding.
District Four Council Member/Mayor Schelly Sustarsic said her district had a lot of enthusiasm. She said it would be a topic of conversation regardless of the make-up of the committee.
Moore made a motion to support the current item.
Landau seconded the motion.
City Manager Jill Ingram said staff recommended that the committee meet on a quarterly basis or as deemed necessary. “I would ask you again to be mindful of the fact of our workload at this time,” Ingram said.
In response to a question from Landau, Ingram said council member appointees would not need to represent their districts.
City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli told the council they could select the council members who would sit on the committee now or at another time.
Sustarsic said she wanted to be on the committee. Kalmick offered to participate. Landau said she had a lot of ideas about College Park East.
Kalmick agreed to step back.
Moore said that was fine.
Then the council members voted on the motion to create the committee.
Background
“At the request of City Council, staff was directed to agendize a Council item for the April 22, 2024, City Council Meeting to consider the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to analyze potential stormwater improvements and funding mechanisms,” according to the staff report by Public Works Director Lee.
During the meeting, Lee said the structure of the stormwater committee would mirror that of the Parking Committee.
“This committee will be referred to as the Citizen-Council Stormwater Advisory Ad-Hoc Committee,” Lee wrote.
Meetings will be held quarterly or when the committee decides the meetings are necessary, according to Lee’s report. The meetings will follow the Ralph M. Brown Act, according to Lee’s report. The Brown Act is the state’s public meeting law.
“It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly,” according to the text of the Brown Act.
Applicants for the stormwater committee should have knowledge and experience with stormwater programs and improvement funding, according to Lee’s report. Applicants must be 18 and live in Seal Beach.
“The five (5) Committee Members may not be City of Seal Beach elected officials or City employees; other than those designated by Council and the City Manager,” Lee wrote.
According to her report, members of the public may apply by visiting https://www.sealbeachca.gov/Departments/City-Clerk/Forms or by emailing City Clerk Gloria Harper at gharper@sealbeachca.gov or by visiting the City Clerk’s Office in person.
Lee’s report said staff expected the stormwater committee membership to be similar to the Parking Ad-Hoc Committee.
Council members were allowed to appoint Parking Committee members who lived in a different council member’s district.
