Several More Council Hopefuls Throw Their Hats in the Ring

• Wagner Decides Not to Seek Reelection to a Second Term

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council election set for April 10 got off to an official start four weeks ago and has picked up speed as the deadline on Jan. 18, after the Malibu Surfside News goes to press, approached for pulling nominating papers and qualifying as a candidate.

The biggest news may have been when Councilmember Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner announced last week that he would not seek a second term.

It had been rumored for weeks Wagner was considering not running for a second term for financial reasons.

The surfer/businessman maintains two residences, no doubt a burden for anyone like Wagner who describes himself as a man of modest financial means.

One home is purported to be located in the hillsides outside of city limits. Another residence is located within the city. This year when he took out nomination papers, Wagner gave his address as an apartment located in the Las Flores Canyon area.

Wagner not running for a second term means both his seat and Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich’s seat, who is termed out of office are up for grabs.

Councilmember John Sibert is the only incumbent. He is seeking reelection to a second term.

More council hopefuls including two new names Bobby Heyward and Jack Utter have pulled nominating papers.

Mike Sidley pulled papers and announced he was not going to run this time.

Two other council hopefuls, Skylar Peak, who pulled nominating papers last week, and Missy Zeitsoff, who pulled papers this week, have tentatively thrown their hats into the ring.

Activist and journalist Hans Laetz pulled papers this Tuesday afternoon and explained why.

“The Malibu City Council has never adequately addressed the issue of public safety. My three issues are public safety, public safety and public safety. The city doesn’t listen to its own commissioners and the people who talk at the meetings,” he said.

Laetz suggested the commissions could be more effective if there were always two city council members present at commission meetings to hear what is being said.

He noted existing practices tend to isolate the city council from public opinion.

Laetz suggested the council should have more meetings especially to avoid putting two controversial issues on the same agenda.

“The city council should have one meeting on every issue. It is ridiculous to have people waiting for hours for their issue,” he said.

The council hopefuls as of Tuesday who were deemed qualified candidates, meaning they had returned their papers and had the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder’s office declare at least 20 of the signatures on the nomination papers valid, include activist, real estate agent and surfer Andy Lyon, former councilmember and current planning commissioner Joan House, former planning commissioner and current city council member John Sibert. and social media skateboard enthusiast Hamish Patterson.

Newcomer Utter is an attorney with offices in Orange County and Los Angeles. He gave his home phone to the city clerk, which is a landline located in Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach, according to the phone company.

He told a local media outlet he has lived with his daughter in Malibu for the last six months.

His website indicates he is also a licensed real estate broker. He is the former president of Regency Real Estate, Inc. former CEO and Chairman of the board of Nerox Energy Corporation and Tommy Lasorda Foods, Inc.

His website reports he has offered legal services for 30 years and offers a broad range of services from corporate law, securities law, business and corporate counseling to residential and commercial real estate transactions.

Skylar Peak is the son of the late local activist Dusty Peak and has taken over his father’s electrical business Peak Power.

He is probably best known as one of the surfers who tangled with the law after his physical attempts to keep the paparazzi at bay on a Point Dume cove when a local celebrity was trying to surf.

Another newcomer, Hayward is the son of Andy Hayward, a producer well-known for putting together a string of successful cartoon programs that appeared on television in the ’80s and ’90s.

The son is best know, according to web information, as producing a short-lived reality program that thatfeatured local celebrity sons.

Hayward produced the program with another son of a television producer, CBS’s CEO Leslie Moonves.

City Clerk Lisa Pope explained as the nominating papers are returned to her, they are sent off to the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder’s office for verification of the status of the voters making the nominations. They must live in the City of Malibu and must be currently registered to vote, according to the city clerk’s office.

The nominating procedure is a formal process whereupon candidates must obtain the signatures of not less than 20 Malibu registered voters “nominating” the candidate for a position on the ballot. No more than 30 signatures may be obtained.

The last date to file nomination papers for incumbents was Jan. 13, the last date for all others is Jan. 18. The filing period for write-in candidates is Feb. 13 through March 27. Voters may request vote-by-mail ballots from March 12 to April 3. The last day to register to vote is March 26.