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Home My WebLink About2025-12-01 | Special Meeting CITY OF HERMOSA BEACH CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA—CLOSED SESSION Call and Notice of Special Meeting: The Mayor of the City of Hermosa Beach has called a Special Meeting of the City Council to consider and take action on only those matters set forth on the agenda. Monday, December 1, 2025 11:00 AM Council Chambers 1315 Valley Drive Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 CITY COUNCIL Rob Saemann, Mayor Mike Detoy, Mayor Pro Tem Ray Jackson, Councilmember Michael D. Keegan, Councilmember Dean Francois, Councilmember David Pedersen, City Treasurer APPOINTED OFFICIALS Steve Napolitano, Interim City Manager Jason Baltimore, Interim City Attorney EXECUTIVE TEAM Brandon Walker, Administrative Services Director Myra Maravilla, City Clerk Alison Becker, Community Development Director Lisa Nichols, Community Resources Director Landon Phillips, Police Chief Joe SanClemente, Public Works Director AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 To comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Assistive Listening Devices (ALD) are available for check out at the meeting. If you require special assistance to participate in this meeting, you must call or submit your request in writing to the Office of the City Clerk at (310) 318-0204 or at cityclerk@hermosabeach.gov at least 48 hours before the meeting. PARTICIPATION AND VIEWING OPTIONS Hermosa Beach City Council meetings are open to the public and are being held in person in the City Hall Council Chambers located at 1315 Valley Drive, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Public comment is only guaranteed to be taken in person at City Hall during the meeting or prior to the meeting by submitting an eComment for an item on the agenda. As a courtesy only, the public may view and participate on action items listed on the agenda via the following: Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89968207828? pwd=bXZmWS83dmxHWDZLbWRTK2RVaUxaUT092 • Phone: Toll Free: (833) 548 0276; Meeting ID: 899 6820 7828, then #; Passcode: 472825 • eComment: Submit an eComment no later than three (3) hours before the meeting start time.• Supplemental Email: Supplemental emails are available for agenda items only and must be sent to cityclerk@hermosabeach.gov. Supplemental emails should indicate the agenda item and meeting date in the subject line and must be received no later than three (3) hours of the meeting start time. Emails received after the deadline but before the meeting ends will be posted to the agenda the next business day. Writings distributed to all, or majority of all, of the City Council after the agenda has been posted shall be available for inspection at the City Clerk's Office located at 1315 Valley Drive, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 during regular business hours. • Please be advised that while the City will endeavor to ensure these remote participation methods are available, the City does not guarantee that they will be technically feasible or work all the time. Further, the City reserves the right to terminate these remote participation methods (subject to Brown Act restrictions) at any time and for whatever reason. Please attend in person or by submitting an eComment to ensure your public participation. Similarly, as a courtesy, the City will also plan to broadcast the meeting via the following listed mediums. However, these are done as a courtesy only and not guaranteed to be technically feasible. Thus, in order to guarantee live time viewing and/or public participation, members of the public shall attend in Council Chambers. Cable TV: Spectrum Channel 8 and Frontier Channel 31 in Hermosa Beach • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CityofHermosaBeach90254 • Live Stream: www.hermosabeach.gov/agenda • Cablecast App: Available on supported devices and smart TVs• If you experience technical difficulties while viewing a meeting on any of our digital platforms, please try another viewing option. View City Council staff reports and attachments at www.hermosabeach.gov/agenda. Page 2 of 9 Pages PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Mayor of the City of Hermosa Beach has called a Special Meeting of the City Council to take place at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 1, 2025, to consider and take action on only those matters set forth on the agenda below. 1.CLOSED SESSION—CALL TO ORDER 11:00 AM 2.ROLL CALL 3.PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION AGENDA 4 This Public Comment period is limited to the Closed Session agenda item only. Public Comment is limited to three (3) minutes per speaker. 4.RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION 4.a PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT/EMPLOYMENT 9 Government Code Section 54957(b)(1) Title: City Manager Subject: Negotiation of City Manager Employment Contract 5.CLOSED SESSION REPORT 6.ADJOURNMENT Page 3 of 9 City Council Special Meeting December 1, 2025 @ 11 AM Agenda Item Name Comment Position URL PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION AGENDA mc guerry I oppose the appointment of the interim City Manager as the City Manager. That this is attempting to be done in a special session just announced a few days ago shows the Mayor knows this is corrupt. We need a transparent and comprehensive process to appoint the City Manager. Furthermore, the city has seen a decline since last Spring. The interim City Manager who presided over this should not be rewarded for doing a less than satisfactory job. Against Page 1 of 3Page 4 of 9 City Council Special Meeting December 1, 2025 @ 11 AM Agenda Item Name Comment Position URL PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION AGENDA Howard Lee for the process The public would best understand that a City Manager Contract prior to appearing as an item on an open session agenda with a contract acceptable to both the HB City Council and the Contractor, usually an independent arbitrator negotiates between the proposed C.M. contractor-applicant and the City Council (for the city) via closed. If a council-selected applicant cannot reach agreement on a contract the council may choose another applicant while still in closed such Special closed session(s) Just being selected in closed session is no guarantee of a contract. Once a contract agreement is reached, it still has to have a hearing in an open session where-then the public will know who the selected applicant is, and where-then they can present their testimony if any as to why such applicant should or should not be accepted. City Manager Contracts and Amendments to such contracts receive final approval in Open Session where the public has a right to weigh in, NOT IN CLOSED SESSION. Usually, except in extremely rare situations, those occurring with the rare and extremely-obnoxious, dysfunctional councilmember(s) would this be other than a very harmonious approval by all five councilmembers (no matter differences in closed session) welcoming the new permanent City Manager. I personally would assume that for all concerned, the actual contract approval will be consummated in the open session of the HB City Council REGULAR meeting to be held Tuesday, in a week, December 9, 2025. Six months is long enough! The prior eCommenter to this eComment, again, perhaps knows something, perhaps leaked improperly by one of the five HB councilmembers, i.e. perhaps the King of the f-bombs in closed sessions? If Steve Napolitano is the selected C.M. applicant for permanent City Manager, then for one - he obviously is entitled to a pay and benefit package equal to, or more than that which the incompetent, absentee Suja was more-than-gratuitously receiving. (Close to Half Million Dollars Per Year) Good God again, good riddance to Suja. My views of course but acquiring the expertise of Steven Napolitano (if such is the case) is truly a gift for the holidays after the Suja disaster, assuming the prior eCommenter knows something of that which again perhaps the King of closed- session f-bombs has leaked. For Page 2 of 3Page 5 of 9 City Council Special Meeting December 1, 2025 @ 11 AM Agenda Item Name Comment Position URL PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION AGENDA Howard Lee comment revised as attached PDF Please Tap This and then Tap on the Blue attachement for my revised comment. Thank You.For https://pu b- hermosa beach.es cribemee tings.co m/FileStr eam.ash x?Docum entId=48 546 Page 3 of 3Page 6 of 9 SUPPLEMENTAL testimony from Howard Lee For the 12-01-2025, 11-AM Special HB City Council Closed Session Meeting. Page 1 of 2 SUPPLEMENTAL testimony to the Monday, 12-01-2025, 11-AM Hermosa Beach Special Closed Session. Posted Monday, December 1, 2025 To: Hermosa Beach City Council, City Clerk and others: From: Howard Lee, Hermosa Beach Resident Re: This is a revision of my prior eComment as submitted 11/30/2025, for clarity, and now posted as a PDF due to the all but horrible eScribe eComment posting window, sizing, operation, comment-readability and more. eScribe needs much, much work! This evening (the night before the meeting) the eScribe List View Window is not even working! Direct Link to Meeting Agenda: https://pub-hermosabeach.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=0b54e43d-02d4-4d8a-8ee5- 8b44f50f331d&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=3&Tab=comments Honorable Council Members, City Clerk, and others: The public would best understand that a City Manager Contract prior to appearing as an item on an Open Session City Council agenda for approval, a contract that’s generally acceptable to both the HB City Council and the City Manager (C.M.) applicant is usually first worked up using an independent arbitrator who negotiates between the proposed C.M.-applicant and the City Council (for the city) via Closed Session council meetings. Note: If a council-selected applicant cannot reach agreement on a contract with the Council utilizing the arbitrator, the Council may decide to choose another applicant while still in such Special or Regular Closed Session(s) utilizing an arbitrator. Just being selected in closed session is no assurance of a final contract. Once a tentative contract agreement is reached with the Council’s selected applicant for C.M. via Closed Session and the arbitrator, per past actions, said contract still has to have a hearing in an Open Session Public Council Meeting where-then the public will learn who the selected applicant is, and where-then they can present their testimony, if any, as to why such applicant should or should not be accepted, or if terms of the contract should be modified. City Manager contracts - and amendments to such - receive final approval in Open Session Council meetings where the public has a right to weigh in, NOT IN CLOSED SESSION meetings as a prior eCommenter seemed to elude that an illegal action was to take place in this December 1, 2025 Closed Session meeting. Page 7 of 9 SUPPLEMENTAL testimony from Howard Lee For the 12-01-2025, 11-AM Special HB City Council Closed Session Meeting. Page 2 of 2 Usually then in Open Session, except in extremely rare situations, those occurring when a rare and extremely-obnoxious, dysfunctional councilmember(s) might be present, would this be other than a very harmonious approval process by all five councilmembers (no matter their differences in prior closed session discussions) with then welcoming of the new permanent City Manager. Assuming all contract workup can be agreed on by a majority of the City Council and the C.M. applicant before Thursday, December 4, such actual contract approval will likely be consummated in the Open Session of the HB City Council REGULAR meeting scheduled for Tuesday, in a week, December 9, 2025. The six months expended so far on this process is much too long enough! The earlier eCommenter perhaps knows something, likely leaked improperly by one of the five HB Councilmembers, i.e. perhaps the ‘King of the f-bombs in closed sessions’? If Interim City Manager Steve Napolitano is the Council-majority’s selected C.M. applicant to be the permanent City Manager, then for one thing - he obviously is entitled to a pay and benefit package equal to or more than that which the incompetent, paranoid, absentee Suja was more-than-gratuitously receiving during her ~6.5 years as City Manager. (I.e. Close to Half Million Dollars Per Year) And again, good riddance to Suja and with time, hopefully her bloated, hidden, City Manager office operation. My views of course, however for the city to be acquiring the expertise of Steve Napolitano (if such is to be the case) is truly a gift for the holidays to the city after the some ~6.5 year Suja disaster, assuming the prior eCommenter knows something of that which again perhaps the “King of closed-session f-bombs” has leaked. How does the eCommenter come to know who is to be appointed otherwise(?), if such is the case; There’s been no announcement from the City Attorney, or Open Session Agenda item, or Press Release that the rest of us have yet heard. Most Respectfully, Howard Lee Page 8 of 9 From: Ann Gotthoffer < Sent: Monday, December 1, 2025 8:37 AM To: City Council <citycouncil@hermosabeach.gov>; Ann Yang <anny@hermosabeach.gov>; Steve Napolitano <snapolitano@hermosabeach.gov> Subject: re special meeting topic Dear Mayor and City Council, (Steve and Ann?) Unfortunately once again due to excessive editing, I apparently hit submit too close to 8 am and just missed the deadline to post a comment. I also failed to copy my comment... Suffice to say that I understand contract negotiations are confidential. I admit I haven't been paying as much attention to watching meetings, reading minutes as I should. But not sure how we got to contract negotiation THIS morning ---- or why this was scheduled last minute during a holiday weekend for this time. I understand meetings can be hard to schedule -- but what was the rush? It certainly adds to the poor look for the entire process. The firing of the previous City Manager and the replacement process had been suspicious from the beginning.; I won't go into all of that here. I would think all attempts would be made to have everything look above board. Has it been publicly posted how many candidates applied, were interviewed by the exec. search committee, and/ or the council? I may have just missed that information, but would like to know.. Even if it's a "baked-in, done deal", there should be more of an opportunity to speak out. Since this is not a public comment, I hope you are able to answer the questions posed in this email sometime. Sincerely, Ann Gotthoffer Page 9 of 9