With cancellations of future meetings factored in, this will be the last Santa Monica City Council meeting with Phil Brock as Mayor and Gleam Davis, Christine Parra and Oscar de la Torre as sitting councilmembers.
They will be replaced with Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya. And Vice Mayor Lana Negrete will become Mayor. In January 2023, the Council voted six to one to change the system going forward to "select the longest continuously serving Councilmember, whether initially elected or appointed, to serve as Mayor for a one-year term."
According to Rule 17 within the council rules, "after each municipal election, the City Clerk shall determine City councilmember seating order by drawing lots, with the exception of the Vice Mayor, who shall be seated next to the Mayor. Changes in seating may be allowed by the Mayor, without requiring a vote, for good cause when those changing seats consent."
So who will end up sitting next to who, ultimately remains to be seen. Moreover, a majority vote will be taken as to who the new Vice Mayor will be. Councilmember Caroline Torosis will be the second longest serving councilmember after Negrete and despite arguably being the favorite candidate, there is no guarantee that she will be awarded the role of deputy.
However, the actual handover will be during the December 10 meeting.
At the time of going to press on Friday lunchtime, the agenda was noticeably void of any study session items, continued items or discussion items. There are, however, 15 consent calendar items, the first of which is an approval of first modification to the Master Services Agreement between the City and Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) to authorize the continued use of Legion private security services for the Downtown district.
This has already been approved by the board of directors at DTSM, so it could pass without discussion, or it could just as easily get pulled and dissected.
Other consent calendar items include an award proposal and agreement with Boston Digital Consulting to design and develop a recruitment website for the Santa Monica Police Department and a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute the memorandum of understanding setting the terms of medical insurance coverage for Santa Monica City employees.
Another interesting agenda item is 12A, an appeal of the Landmark Commission decision to designate the Compass Rose located north of and adjacent to Runway 3 at Santa Monica Airport as a City landmark. This was set to be heard during the October 22, 2024, meeting but was suddenly pulled from the agenda without adequate explanation. However, as per the agenda, staff recommends that the Council deny the appeal and uphold the decision to designate it as a City Landmark.
Brock is a second-generation Santa Monica resident and was elected to the Santa Monica City Council in 2020. He served on the Recreation and Parks Commission for over 12 years, including as Chair and he also served on the Arts Commission for over four years.
Davis joined the City Council in February 2009 and was elected to the position of Vice Mayor in 2016 and to Mayor in 2018 and again in 2022. Prior to joining the City Council, she was a co-chair of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights and served on the Santa Monica Planning Commission.
De la Torre is a native Santa Monica resident who served 18 years on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education. He has held a seat on the City Council since 2020 and was elected at the same time as Parra.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
