Every other month, the Lompoc Public Safety Commission meets to discuss concerns related to police, fire, and emergency medical services—but rarely ever have there been more than a couple of attendees.
“We have one or two members of the community show up,” Lompoc Police Chief Kevin Martin said at the Lompoc City Council’s Oct. 15 meeting, in support of a proposed revision that aims to increase public attendance at the hearings while decreasing their occurrence.
City staff’s proposal would cut the Public Safety Commission’s yearly meeting count in half, from six to three, and move the hearings away from City Hall. The recommendation calls for the commission to rotate its meetings at gathering-friendly venues—such as a school gyms or hotels—across Lompoc’s four districts.
“One of the ideas we had was to go to each one of your districts, both the fire chief and I, and meet with the people in those areas,” Martin told the City Council. “So the community can then come more easily to those meetings and be involved.”
Councilmember Dirk Starbuck said he’s spoken to two members of the Public Safety Commission who raised a separate attendance issue within the committee. “Their frustration is the fact that they are never able to have a meeting because they are never able to have a quorum,” Starbuck said. “That could be faulted to the council because the appointees are not making meetings as they promised to do.”
According to Lompoc’s handbook on city government and administration, one of the Public Safety Commission’s general functions is to “make recommendations to the City Council in matters of public safety,” while abiding by the Brown Act, including its quorum requirement. Without a majority of the commission present, a meeting can’t be held.
“I’ll just say that I don’t think this is the fix that the commission needs. … I don’t think the solution here is to make it [the meeting] every four months,” said Starbuck, who suggested that each council member check in with their respective appointee on their attendance records.
Mayor Jenelle Osborne and Councilmember Jeremy Ball voiced support for staff’s recommendation, and both emphasized that the City Council could revise the meeting count again in the future if things don’t improve.
“I’m always up for change,” said Starbuck, who ultimately sided with them. “I don’t want to be the one to interfere, to stop progress. I just wanted to share my concerns. … I’m not going to get into an argument or a pissing contest about it.”
Ball said he appreciates “staff’s effort pointing us toward some sort of efficiency,” before seconding Osborne’s motion to approve the proposal, which passed 5-0.
“It is incredibly frustrating when you’re trying to make a difference and not enough people show up, and you feel a little deflated,” Ball said. “Let’s measure the data, … let’s see if it’s a better outreach mechanism, and if it’s working, let’s keep it going, or let’s go back to the old system if it’s not.”
This article appears in Oct 24 – Nov 3, 2024.