At last night’s (Sept. 22) City Council Meeting the Director of Public Works brought out their latest “surprise.” Unlike the last meeting where their gift to the city was a nearly doubling of the cost of the first “shovel ready” project this time it was a special guest! This guest is the owner of the company they want to pay a half million dollars to oversee the multi million dollar work of whatever company wins the bid. That should be enough right there for most functioning adults to press pause on this nonsense. They are saying that even though they vet the companies who bid on our lucrative projects with their massive experience and intellect and our City Attorney makes sure the companies are fully responsible for their work in the way he oversees the contracts… they both still need oversight and protection with the aid of another vendor. Last night our director of Public Works and their sales team brought this man out with another plan in mind…. This time they want to hire his company not just to oversee the work of another but to guide them and the city through the treacherous phase of even putting the jobs out to bid and hiring the company! That’s right they aren’t even capable of hiring companies to do the work they are asking the citizens to borrow 50 Million dollars (well based on this first job it could be 100 Million dollars). Again they blind sided the City Council with this last minute appeal for them to vote on this additional cost to an already ballooning project.
All of this further makes the “third option” that a couple of members of the council and the citizens asked for even more obviously the correct one. We asked that the city instead of this massive money grab from citizens and blank check for Public Works to scale it down to the most pressing 4 or 5 projects, all of which were supposedly “shovel ready” and let Public Works earn back some trust from the “Public” by accomplishing these. Some on the council along with the director of Public Works insisted the only way forward was following them into a historic debt path and a massive amount of projects which they absolutely promised they are capable of overseeing. Last night they proved that even one project is out of their reach without hiring an outside consultant. Let that soak in: our Director of Public Works, wants to hire someone else to do their job with our money.
James Jansen
Seal Beach
Editor’s note: The following letter originally appeared in the Weekly Squeal, the Seal Beach Chamber Newsletter. It was submitted to the Sun and is being reprinted here.
To The Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and The Greater Seal Beach Community
I am proud to be President of The Chamber for another term. During my time in Seal Beach I have experienced the meaning of civic duty and civic pride. I have also recognized the essence of patriotism. I am grateful for the Executive Committee, Deborah Bell – Vice President, Rob Janhcke – Treasurer, and Karen Kuns – Secretary. My gratitude also extends to the Board of Directors – Karlton Okamoto, Gregg Smith, Patty Senecal, Frank Carvajal, Christine Bird, Nikki Muller, Elizabeth Alligood, John Osborne, Janine Shedlock, Nicki Albright, Peter Magalhaes, Perla Mendoza, Jennifer Robles, Past President Daren DeLeon and lastly The Chamber’s Administrator Brandi. This year I have no clear set goals; basic strategy says perfect the process and results should follow. We’ll focus on what has made this chamber successful over the years. Marketing, networking, and educating the membership. We’ll continue to have our general monthly morning breakfast networking meeting held the 2nd Thursday of the month at 7:30 A.M; Afternoon monthly networking lunch held the 3rd Wednesday of the month 12:00 P.M.
Throughout the year we’ll hold networking events with organizations and/or chambers of commerce to help extend our membership’s network while also highlight businesses in the Seal Beach area. We’re looking forward to doing more ribbon cuttings – celebrating anniversaries, milestone achievements, and new business openings. Our annual events such as The Christmas tree lighting will be here soon, along with our Christmas Party. Thanksgiving dinner: last year we were able to feed 120 leisure world residents. Pop-ups at the Pier held quarterly. The Seal Beach Classic Car Show, which is celebrating its 38th anniversary, The Be Healthy Expo in its 18th year, and lastly The Summer Concert series which takes us to the end of Summer into the Installation. The desired result in my [opinion] should be strong community support & engagement, a thriving business community who share’s knowledge, resources & fosters an environment of camaraderie, and lastly a good time. I look forward to strengthening & deepening the relationship with the City of Seal Beach as our partner to make the annual events possible, The Lion’s club who extend a volunteering hand, and the other business communities who lend The Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce Support (See: Olympic Size Mixer). In addition to the Seal Beach Police Department, The Naval Weapons Station, The Mary Wilson Library, City Council, The Residents, The Business Community, The Volunteer Community, and The Mayor.
“Splendid Torch” by George Bernard Shaw.
It is a poem I heard, read, lived with and carried with me. Again, thank you and I look forward to this upcoming year President 2025-2026:
Richie Barnes
President
Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and Business Association office
