Over the past year, Huntington Beach City Hall has been one of the most active in the county, opening up discussions on a variety of controversial issues that regularly saw a split council and divided residents debating the issues for hours on end.
A year after a new Republican majority took over in Surf City, it’s a dramatically different place – the city manager and nearly every top staffer have left and the city is currently suing the state to fight mandated housing laws they say are ruining suburban neighborhoods.
[Read: Surf City Bleeds Executive Staff Under New City Council Leadership]
The council minority – three Democratic council members – will also be up for reelection next November.
“We’ve done more in one year than most councils have done in eight,” said then-Mayor Tony Strickland at his State of the City address last month, days before he turned the title over to Gracey Van Der Mark. “Huntington Beach’s best days are in the future, not the past.”
But there are many residents who’ve publicly complained about the current city council majority, pointing out that after hearing for hours from residents at different meetings split on the issues, the council majority has almost always voted in lockstep.
“I was raised that changing rules because you can was dishonest and it was not playing fair,” said resident Meg Robinson shortly before the city council named Van Der Mark the new mayor. “But that’s what the council is planning to do tonight.”
Traditionally, the city council picks the council members with more experience to take over as mayor, but it’s a trend the majority of the council has bucked over the last two years.
When he was mayor, Strickland generally thanked every public commenter for attending as they came to the podium, but at his state of the city address he instead quoted President Theodore Roosevelt.
“It is not the critic who counts,” Strickland said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
What’s Coming Next Year?
The city’s battle with the state over housing is continuing to play out in court, with the pause on the state’s case against the city expected to lift in the near future.
The city is also searching for a new city manager after Al Zelinka retired earlier this year, with the position currently being held by Police Chief Eric Parra.
[Read: Huntington Beach Appoints Police Chief as Interim City Manager]
In March, voters will also be asked whether they want to implement voter ID requirements for local elections, a move that could change how the city runs elections in the future and has already faced the threat of legal action from CA Attorney General Rob Bonta.
[Read: California Attorney General Warns Huntington Beach Against Implementing Voter ID Law]
The city was also sued over the proposed law by Mark Bixby, a former planning commissioner in the city and an outspoken critic of the Republican majority, but a judge declined to have it taken off the ballot.
And in the fall, every Democrat on the city council will be up for reelection, giving the majority a chance to potentially expand.
Beyond the ballot, city staff are also working on implementing a host of new ideas proposed by the city council over the past year, with the most controversial being a new panel that will review what books are allowed to enter the city’s libraries.
[Read: Huntington Beach Creates Panel To Decide What Books Go Into City Library]
The city is also wrapped in public records lawsuits over its settlement with the operators of the Pacific Airshow, who received $7.4 million from the city after they were forced to shut down their show during the 2021 oil spill.
City leaders have also refused to publicly share a copy of that settlement agreement, and are currently fighting in court with Ocean View School Board member Gina Clayton-Tarvin on whether or not it should be publicly released.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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