Jim Katapodis eagerly awaits expected turn as Huntington Beach mayor

Jim Katapodis has made some tough decisions during his three years on the Huntington Beach City Council.

He voted for the controversial plastic bag ban, supported reducing the number of housing units allowed along Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue and voted in favor of making city labor talks more transparent to the public.

Katapodis, 60, is expected to be chosen by his council colleagues to be the city’s next mayor during Monday’s council meeting at City Hall. Councilman Dave Sullivan is expected be named mayor pro tem.

Katapodis said that although he is excited at the prospect of being Surf City’s mayor for the next year, he has a lot to learn about running council meetings.

“[Current] Mayor [Jill] Hardy has a real good command on how to run the meetings because she’s done it before,” Katapodis said. “I can sit there and watch her do it and think in my head what I’m going to do. But just like anything, when I’m actually doing it, I have to figure out how to really do it.”

The retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant said that whether he was voting on the bag ban or the housing issue, the most important aspect of city government that he has learned is to listen to people.

“You can’t ignore the citizens of Huntington Beach,” he said. “I couldn’t turn anywhere in Huntington Beach [when the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan was being discussed] without someone telling me to stop building in the city.”

Katapodis said he tries to be proactive in dealing with issues residents have with the city. However, he said he learned early in his political career that government does not move as fast as he had thought.

A resident once asked him when the city was going to resurface the resident’s street. Katapodis replied that the city would get to it right away. However, he visited the Public Works Department and learned that the street was on a waiting list and wouldn’t be worked on for two years.

“When you get on the City Council, you think, ‘Wow! I’m going to go get this done right away,’ ” he said. “But I learned that it doesn’t happen like that. You have to be realistic.”