Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson recently updated the council on the city’s eight “SMART” goals for 2026. The council took no action on any of these items last week.
The specific goals were set during the November 2025 Strategic Planning meeting. Henderson led the November meeting. Henderson provided the update during the presentations part of the April 27 City Council meeting.
• Goal 1: Billboard progress report
The idea was for Seal Beach to use advertising on digital billboards to generate revenue.
“Vendor reference checks are substantially complete as part of the project’s due diligence process,” Henderson said.
He said the city met with the consulting firm of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley to review the agreement. He said the draft agreement was underway.
District Four Councilwoman Patty Senecal said there was a public comment (at a prior meeting) asking when residents would know about the program. “So we need to even if it’s not fully done perfect conceptually we need to bring the residents in and let them know what we’re considering,” Senecal said.
Henderson said that would be integrated into a future presentation.
• Goal 2: Prepare roadmap for constructing the Lifeguard Headquarters/Police Substation.
“With a total project cost of approximately $15 million and $4 million already identified, the City must close the remaining funding gap and would need support of Council, the public and all of staff,” according to the proposed 2026-27 budget. (The Sun will have more details on that next week.)
“We presented preliminary conceptual designs at the CIP study session and initiated discussions to establish a roadmap for project construction,” Henderson said.
He said the city evaluated funding strategies, had preliminary discussions with other agencies about current and future financing opportunities and consulted with California Coastal Commission staff about permits.
He said he believed there would be more information on the workshop at the upcoming budget planning sessions. (Planning sessions were scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, and Thursday, May 7. The Tuesday meeting was held after this week’s editorial deadline and the Thursday meeting was scheduled for the day the Sun comes out. The Sun will report on those sessions next week.)
(For more about the Lifeguard Headquarters project, see “A working group for Lifeguard HQ replacement?” at sunnews.org.)
• Goal 3: Complete small Main Street beautification projects
Henderson said the Main Street Vision Plan had been shared with the council He said the plan will also be shared with the Business First Committee. (The committee is set to meet at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 20.)
On-street parking stalls have been re-striped and “no U-turn” signs had been repainted.
“Main Street light demonstration fixtures have been installed. Full corridor deployment is pending council feedback,” Henderson said.
He also said city officials have discussed part-time staffing to maintain the Main Street area, including pressure washing.
Goal 4: Provide a paid parking report to the council.
“The parking municipal code has been updated to reflect the current parking technology and code language has been amended to reflect the paid parking is in the off-street lots only,” Henderson said.
Technically, the council approved the introduction of an ordinance to update the city’s parking code in early April. The council was originally scheduled to adopt the ordinance on April 27, but the item was pulled from the agenda before the council voted. The council is expected to adopt the ordinance at a future meeting.
• Goal 5: Create Business First working group to evaluate the Main Street Specific Plan.
The first meeting of the Citizen-Council Business First Advisory Ad Hoc Committee is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 20, according to an April 27 email from City Clerk Gloria Harper.
The council approved the creation of the Business First Committee on Jan. 26, according to Henderson.
The appointment of the committee members was approved on March 23, according to Henderson.
Goal 6: Consider expanding special events citywide. “On March 20th, a newly formed farmers market opened at the base of the Seal Beach Pier,” Henderson said. (The Farmers Market takes place every Friday in and around Eisenhower Park.)
“Staff is currently considering an expansion of the summer concerts to include a closure of Ocean Avenue between Main Street and 10th Street,” Henderson said.
“The applicant has submitted this request and is being reviewed by city staff,” Henderson said.
“The city will also be hosting a senior resource fair in May at the North Seal Beach Center and a pink walk breast cancer awareness campaign on October 3rd,” Henderson said.
Goal 7: Create an Olympics Working Group. The Citizen-Council Olympics Advisory Committee recently met for the first time. The next meeting is scheduled for May 19.
“The Olympic Committee was formed at the council meeting on January 26th,” Henderson said. He said meetings are open to the public. No online recording of the Olympic Advisory Committee is available.
Goal 8: Communicate the Strategic Plan to the public.
Henderson said the Strategic Plan was released and provided to the council on Jan. 26.
“The report has been shared via newsletter, social media and community meetings,” Henderson said.
The Sun also ran a multi-part series about the 2025 Strategic Planning meeting.
“This is the update to our Strategic Planning for the first quarter. In the future, we’ll continue to provide status updates. The next one will be in 90 to 120 days,” Henderson said.
