Huntington Beach City Council to grapple with pensions at Monday meeting
With Huntington Beach facing tens of millions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities, the City Council on Monday will discuss supporting statewide legislation favoring pension reform.
Council members Lyn Semeta and Erik Peterson request the council support a statement supporting legislation by state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) that seeks to regulate pension issues.
“California is heading toward a fiscal crisis,” the statement reads. “The rising cost of pension liabilities will increasingly crowd out availability of funds to pay for infrastructure, park repairs and improvements and necessary services including public safety.”
The city will owe about $35 million in fiscal 2016-17 year to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS.
Similarly, Councilman Billy O’Connell submitted an item that calls for the council to request a CalPERS representative to attend a study session meeting to discuss pension liabilities with the council.
In his statement, O’Connell said CalPERS has increased pension expenditures, which have jeopardized the city’s “responsibility of providing services to [its] residents.”
“CalPERS has failed in (its) fiduciary responsibility, and this failure poses great risk to cities, our hardworking employees and the taxpayers who will ultimately foot the bill for CalPERS’ failures,” the statement says.
Council considers closing-time exemptions
The council also will consider granting a permit and amending another for two businesses that want exemptions from a resolution requiring certain establishments to close at midnight when applying for or modifying their permits.
The council will consider approving the conditional use permit for HQ Gastropub and an amendment to one for Black Bull Chop House.
The gastropub wants to occupy 155 Fifth St., formerly RA Sushi. The Planning Commission in mid-March recommended the council grant the permit along with city staff.
However, the gastropub, which will serve food and cocktails did not want the permit request to interfere with plans to operate until 2 a.m., three days a week.
City staff is researching ways to possibly amend a 2013 resolution that requires downtown businesses that serve alcohol to start closing by midnight at the point they apply for or seek to amend a conditional use permit.
The resolution is part of a continuing effort to control often-rowdy crowds leaving the area’s bars early in the morning. Some council members have said the resolution may cripple businesses.
While the commission chose to recommend the approval of the permit, it voted that the gastropub could not bypass the midnight closing ordinance.
Black Bull Chop House, 300 Pacific Coast Hwy., is seeking to add a new outdoor dining area but is also hoping to avoid the midnight closure requirement.
The commission similarly voted to recommend the outdoor dining patio and disapproved of the exemption.
According to a city manager’s report, the council can make exceptions to the midnight closure requirements, if it chooses.
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