By Bari Cohn
Staff Writer
The results of the Nov. 3 Hermosa beach elections were released for the positions of the two seats for City Councilmen, the two seats for the Hermosa Beach School Board, the City Clerk and City Treasurer.
The results of the elections were released within 24 hours after the polls closed. Justin Massey and Jeff Duclos now occupy seats on the Hermosa Beach City Council, and Patti Ackerman and Monique Ehsan are the newest members of the Hermosa Beach School Board. Both City Clerk Elaine Doerfling and City Treasurer Karen Nowicki had no opponents in their re-election, so were automatically appointed another term.
“This is my first time running, so I have not served on the City Council before,” City Councilman Justin Massey said. “The main responsibilities of the City Councilman is to determine the laws and policies that govern the city.”
For City Councilmen Justin Massey took the lead with 1,523 votes, Jeff Duclos with a close 1,489 votes, Peter Tucker with 872 votes, Kenneth Hartley with 683 votes, and Trent Larson with 475 votes. The two elected candidates for the school board were Patti Ackerman and Monique Ehsan. Ackerman took the lead with 1,470 votes, Ehsan following closely with 1,235, James Scott with 976 votes, and Lisa Claypoole with 697 votes.
“Around half of the people mailed their ballot in and the other half casted their votes in person,” City Councilmen Peter Tucker said. “The voter turnout was a lot less than when we have previously seen but the process works very well overall.”
The first bulletin of the election is made up of the votes collected by mail, followed by those collected in the polls. The polls were open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on Nov. 3, and the voting poll locations were assigned in zones by address.
“The main job of the school board it to attend monthly meetings and supervise and oversee the dealings of the district superintendent and their office,” Former school board member and Costa teacher Lisa Claypoole said. “Our one main task is to hire and fire the superintendents and to make are that the educational curriculum that is carried out by the school district continues.”
The elected City Councilmen Jeff Duclos previously served on the city council but ran for re-election this year after losing a very close election in 2013, Justin Massey is a first time City Councilman and former environmental lawyer and teacher. School board re-elect Patti Ackerman is a former teacher who’s main goal is to create the best possible education in Hermosa Beach, first time winner Monique Ehsan has a law degree and career in real estate and her main focus is to solve the problem of overcrowding in schools.
“The city council members didn’t want to vote to put Measure H on the ballot so we decided to allow the citizens to vote and it passed overwhelmingly,” Tucker said. “This tax is a huge win for us because we the residents don’t pay the taxes, the visitors do, and it may earn around $450,000 a year with the hotels we have now.”
On Nov. 3, the majority of voters also voted yes to raise the hotel occupancy tax from 10-12%. This allows the city of Hermosa Beach to collect revenue from visitors staying in local hotels as a way to collect money from non-residents.
“During my term as City Councilman I am most excited about combining innovation and smart business development,” Massey said. “In doing this I hope to free up extra money that doesn’t come out of resident’s pockets in order to make investments into the infrastructure of our city.”
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