City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the special meeting of the City Council of the City of Hidden Hills for Wednesday, August 19th, 2026. For members of the public participating via Zoom, if you experience any technical difficulties, please contact City Hall at 818-888-9281. Substitute City Clerk Blair, may we please have a roll call?

Yes. Mayor Lugia?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Siegel? Here.

Okay.

Council member Gold? Here. Council member McCorkindale? Yes. Council member Weber?

Present.

You have a quorum.

Okay. Also present this evening are the following members of the city staff, Acting City Manager Amber Servin, City Attorney Lauren Langer, Administrative Assistant Sarah Porter, and Substitute City Clerk Jessica Blair. Please note the public comment tonight will be invited for each listed agenda item. as they are considered. Members of the public wishing to comment should be prepared to speak when the relevant item is announced. Time will be limited to three minutes. Please note that there will be no public comment on items not on the agenda. We will now move on to item 3A under new business, resolution number 1064, appointing candidates for the city council seats and canceling the general municipal election for the city council scheduled for November 3rd, 2026. Acting City Manager Servin, please present the staff report.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. This item asks the City Council to adopt Resolution 1064, appointing candidates to the four City Council seats that were to be elected on November 3rd, 2026 and canceling the general municipal election accordingly. The nomination period for this election opened on July 13th and closed on August 12th. By the close of the period, only one candidate had filled for the partial two-year term and only three candidates had filed for the three seats carrying a four-year term, exactly matching the number of offices available. The qualified candidates are Larry Weber for the partial two-year term, Esther Hahn, Jeff Gorgon, and David Zebrak for the three four-year terms. Since there are no additional candidates than offices, Section 10229 of the Elections Code allowed the city clerk to certify the fact that the clerk did on August 10th. Notice of the certification was published on August 14th, five days before tonight's meeting, as required by law. Under these circumstances, the city council may either appoint the nominated candidates to cancel the election and cancel the election or direct the election to be held anyway. If the Council does not cancel the election, the City Clerk's Office would need to open a write-in filling period from September 7th through October 20th. Adopting the resolution this evening has no fiscal impact, and canceling the election would instead save the City an estimated $15,000 in holding costs. Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution 1064, appointing Larry Weber, Esther Hahn, Jeff Gorin, and David Zebrak to the city council and canceling the municipal election for the city scheduled for November 3rd and direct the city clerk to present each of them with a certificate of appointment in lieu of election. I am happy to answer any questions that there may be.

Is there anybody on council that has questions for Amber?

Yeah, I have a question for Lauren. Should I recuse myself or abstain from the vote?

You don't need to. But if you would prefer for the optics of it, you're welcome to, because you have a full council here, but it's not required.

Okay.

I just want to note it's Jeff Grogan. Thank you, my apologies. No problem.

Anybody else have any questions or comments?

I actually have one comment. Just a point of information that I have not completely verified, but I was told unreliably. that of the COG cities, with the exception of Malibu, I'm not aware of, all have uncontested elections this year.

Yes.

So there must be something in the water.

Confirmed. That is confirmed information, Stuart.

Okay. And I don't know about Malibu.

Malibu is having an election.

Okay, good. All right. So then I got the correct info.

Okay. Jessica, is there anybody on Zoom that wants to comment? We can't hear you.

Yes, we do have two speakers, Mayor. The first is Matthew Wasserman. Matthew, go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, City Council and staff. I just want to... It's great that we're doing that. I just wish that the City Manager report indicated that On August 6th, there was an article in the Acorn about the ever-changing city manager situation. Since we don't get the paper here delivered anymore, residents didn't see it until the 7th when it was posted online. That same September 7th, some residents were under the understanding that the nomination period had closed. There was no indication that an extension was possible, no announcement, no communication from the city clerk or the city manager. that additional time might be triggered under the elections code. Personally, I was confused as nothing had been posted and four days later on August 11th, I posted on a community Facebook page at 7.40 in the morning asking, what's the deal? It wasn't until later that day that the city posted the extension, not on the main page and quietly on a single subpage of the website. No homepage notice, no newsletter, no social media, no calendar entry, no citywide communication, no effort to inform the residents that four council seats were open and only one incumbent had filed. For a process that appointments with the clerk was required, signatures would be required to be gotten, and formal paperwork, it does not seem appropriate that a 24-hour window with no proactive outreach is adequate. It's functionally inaccessible. And I feel that it really, the city failed to keep the community in the loop and residents as well. Residents believe that process ended August 7th. And posting that extension, not even on the opening page of the city council, it's not good governance. It's not consistent with the standards of openness that the community expects. And I hope that there would be a policy going forward that extensions must be prominently posted. Residents will receive email or text notifications. The city calendar should reflect the extension. There would be verbal announcements made at meetings, even if it has to be a special meeting agenda item. An extension should remain visible for 72 hours. I think these are basic and reasonable. And I have a very serious question for Lauren Langer as well. The municipal code says that 90 days after an election, you cannot release or fire a city manager after election. And on July 10th, July 15th, on posted agendas, there was information about dismissal release discipline of a city manager. So I'm wondering how that works, where that 90 days happens, and if that is a peculiar situation that we'll be in because of not holding an election.

Thank you, Matthew. Our next up is Casey Corbin.

Can we address that comment?

Yeah.

Since that's not accurate. Amber and Lauren, could you address the comment? Because I saw it on the website and it was posted and we talked about it in our meetings and-

Yes, I think Amber could probably provide a little bit more specifics, but there are very specific election law requirements as to when the nomination period is extended and the time periods for that and the posting of the information. and the sending it out. And the city did comply with all of the requirements that are required under the elections code. It's a tight timeline. That's why the special meeting has to be done tonight because all of this is a very tight timeline under the elections code, but the city did comply with all of the requirements that are required by law.

Thank you, Lauren. And just to add a little bit more to that, the election information was also posted On the carousel under featured news on the website, the main page, the information did include the extension.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else?

Yes, Casey Corbin.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. I'm here to express my support in continuing the election going on. To add the previous comments that were mentioned, I checked the Hidden Hills City website quite regularly and noticed that these notices were posted only about a day before the city council meeting. The agenda being posted on August 18th, it's my understanding stuff like this should be posted about five days in advance. In addition to that, despite being a resident of the city for 25 years, I was not aware of an election timeline, I was not aware it was even possible to run an election, and in a I wasn't even aware that the timeline of this had concluded at this time. While I understand that there are an equal number of candidates, that's where there's one person running for each opening, I would much prefer to provide the city residents an opportunity to write in a candidate of their choosing if they so wish. By eliminating the election, my concern is that you're oppressing the voices of the people in the city sure odds are the four people running in the 2026 election will probably win their seats but if anyone should choose to uh run or if anyone wants to write in a candidate if they're choosing they should be free to do so on the ballot that they receive sometime in october And in addition, I would like to express my dissatisfaction of the last-minute cancellation of the August 10th meeting, as I had intended to speak at that meeting on a different issue. Thank you. Thank you, Casey.

Can we address that also? Because it's not five day requirement for a special meeting. It's 24 hours. And I and I know that we had that up. And also that has nothing to do with the election notifications, which started to go up in June. So I think there's a misunderstanding about timing. Lauren, maybe you could explain.

Yeah, that's correct. The city clerk does maintain an elections page on the city's Web site that does have all the information available. The city council adopted a resolution calling the election earlier in the summer, which is required under the elections code. And the culmination of this meeting tonight had to happen as a special meeting, which is council member McCorkindale noted under the Brown Act requires a 24 hour notice. Because, as I mentioned, all of these timelines are very crunched. They happen within a week of each other. And so the notification was published last Friday as required by law, and there has to be a five-day waiting period. And so there's only a one or two-day period that this meeting can be held. And I believe one of the other council members noted as well that other cities in the region are doing this tonight, are having this discussion tonight as well, because it's just a very, very tight timeline allowed under the elections code. But the requirements by law have been followed.

I want to say a couple of things. I want to be responsive for the issue that was brought up. And I actually always wanted to have a civic class for our residents to offer that. So they would understand how our council works, how the elections work, how you vote, when you vote, how you register. And I think that would be amazing. So maybe part of our library, we could offer that course. Maybe we could either do it online only or maybe in person as well. But I take that comment very seriously and I definitely will work on that civics course for everyone to learn how things work and not feel left out.

Anybody else on council want to make a comment? Is there anybody else on Zoom?

One more speaker. Brett Katz.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. I'd like to address a lack of transparency that's going on with the city right now. We're spending approximately $30,000 a month to pay the city manager who's no one's seen in months. We're paying extra $5,000 to the assistant city manager to take her position with no information on what's going on, dark. We've had more special meetings than we've had actual meetings this year. This is a problem. There's a huge lack of transparency of what's going on. And I believe the city council owes it to the population of Hidden Hills to let them know what is going on with our city manager. It's been month after month after month with no information. And I think that this is something that needs to be addressed. And I'm also disappointed that you have this special meeting, but I can't talk about other subjects. So this is just to communicate that I think it's unclear what's going on, and there's been nothing talked about, and we just go after a month, and this is improper.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else on Zoom?

There's not, Mayor. However, a previous speaker has raised her hand again. So just to mention for the public that you are only allowed to speak once on any agenda item.

Okay.

Is that the council's discretion, though, if they would like to provide additional time?

No. Okay. All right. So there's no more public comments. Can I have a motion to adopt resolution number 1064?

I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 1064. Is that what it is? 1064.

I'll second that.

Substitute City Clerk Blair, can we please conduct a roll call?

Yes. Council Member Weber?

Yeah, I'll abstain just because my name is on that ballot.

Council Member McCorkindale? Yes. Council Member Gold? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Siegel?

Yes.

Mayor Legia?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Okay. We will now move on to item 3B under new business consideration and approval of a letter to Southern California Edison requesting a reliability assessment and capital improvement commitment for the Valdez substation. Acting city manager Servin, please present the staff report.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. This item asks the Council to approve a letter to Southern California Edison regarding the Valdez substation, which Hidden Hills shares with the City of Calabasas. Over the past several months, Hidden Hills has experienced three separate unplanned outages traced by SCE crews to equipment issues was substantiated itself. A pattern neighboring communities on other substations have not seen. The draft letter is prepared for transmittal on the City Council letterhead asking SCE to bring the Valdez substation to the same reliability standards as other communities that it serves, including repairing the failing critter guards, upgrading equipment, implementing active monitoring, and provided a documented maintenance plan. It also requests detailed technical data, including feeder reliability history, loading capacity, asset condition and root cause analysis and corrective action plan, along with a direct 24-hour communication protocol for the city manager during outage events. There is no fiscal impact with this action and the letter requests investment and improved communication from SCE and also does not commit any city funds. Staff recommends that the city council approve the letter Authorize the mayor to endorse it on behalf of the council and direct staff to transmit the letter. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you remember any questions from council members. Okay, is there anyone on zoom wishing to comment.

I have 1 hand raise yes, man.

Okay.

Matthew Wasserman.

Thank you for doing this. The situation with Southern California, Edison is untenable, especially during the summer. And for many of those of us who work from home offices, it's absolutely disgraceful. And thank you for standing up to them. And it would be so great to have a regular meeting where people could voice opinions on other matters. And it would be great if Lauren Langer answered my 90 day question. Thank you.

Any other comments?

No other speakers, Mayor.

Okay. Can I have a motion to authorize Acting City Manager Servin to send the proposed letter to Southern California Edison requesting a reliability assessment and capital improvement commitment for the Valdez substation?

I'll so move. Second by Stewart.

Okay. City Clerk Blair, can we have a roll call?

Council member Gold? Yes. Council member McCorkindale? Yes. Council member Weber?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Siegel?

Yes.

Mayor Legia?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Okay. If there is no further business, may I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting?

I vote to adjourn the meeting.

I second it.

And can we have a roll call?

Council member Gold? Yes. Council member McCorkindale? Yes. Council member Weber?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Siegel?

Yes.

Mayor Legia?

Yes. We are adjourned.