The Santa Clarita City Council named new members to City commissions Tuesday night and also heard concerns from the community on long-term power outages.

The Santa Clarita City Council finalized appointments to local commissions during their regular meeting Tuesday night, among other business.

The council nominated and approved the appointment of Timothy Burkhart, Pamela Verner, and Nathan Keith to the Planning Commission; Dennis Sugasawara and Hugo Cherre to the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commission; Tracey Thompson and Jeri Seratti-Goldman to the Arts Commission; and Jose Benito Martinez III and David Hegg to the Open Space Preservation District Financial Accountability and Audit Panel.

In addition, the council also voted to allow the City Manager to execute certain documents confirming the City of Santa Clarita’s consent for Burrtec Waste Industries utilizing landfills other than the Chiquita Canyon Landfill for solid waste disposal.

Many residents also came forward to share their frustrations with ongoing Public Safety Power Shut Offs (PSPS) implemented by Southern California Edison, which have left thousands literally in the dark repeatedly during the winter.

City officials shared that they two agreed that the PSPS were excessive, but that the local government had no control over the utility provider’s decisions.

“While we can kick and scream and we can share the same sentiments, they aren’t subject to our jurisdiction or the council’s jurisdiction. I know that’s not a great answer, other than it’s just the reality of who Edison answers to, and it’s one person, and that’s the California PUC. So all of these complaints, all of these issues, need to be communicated constantly to the PUC,” said City Manager Ken Striplin. “I completely understand the change needs to be made and there needs to be greater transparency in how Edison is dealing with the issue. I wish I had more to share, but unfortunately, this is the extent of our information.”

The council also rehashed an ongoing streak of interpersonal tension pertaining to the mayoral rotation process.

Councilwoman Marsha McLean proposed that the council formally adopt a rotation policy for the mayor and mayor pro tem positions in order to “de-politicize” the process fo choosing a mayor. Specifically, she proposed that each elected city council member shall have a turn to serve as mayor pro tem for one year and then serve as mayor the following year, with the council member who has not served as mayor pro tem for the longest period of time being named mayor pro tem to then rotate to becoming mayor.

During the Dec. 10 organizational meeting, McLean was passed over for a second time for her turn as Mayor Pro Tem. As much a ceremonial role as the Mayor position, the City Council elects among themselves who will be the next mayor and Mayor Pro Tem at the yearly organizational meeting in December.

At the time, McLean spoke out against the decision to name Councilmember Laurene Weste Mayor Pro Tem, as put forward by Councilmember Patsy Ayala, noting that she felt that “personal vendettas” were involved.

“You’re all going to vote the way you wish. But I would like to mention that we really should return to the rotation, and the person who should be nominated should be nominated in that rotation,” McLean said in December. “This business about, you know, keeping people off the Council for personal reasons or whatever you know, to take office. It’s just not okay for Santa Clarita.”

From its inception in 1987 until 1999, the City council chose a mayor based on rotation, after which the council chose to choose via vote. Informally, the council has largely respected a rotational process, though it is not formal, despite a 2013 attempt by then-councilmember Tim Burkhart (which McLean voted against) and a 2019 attempt by McLean to change the process.

“I would like to propose that we set up the system, as I have stated, in order to, as the founding fathers wanted to do, de-politicize the procedure and go back once again to make it fair and equitable for each one of us who is elected by the voters to serve as mayor and Mayor Pro Tem,” McLean said.

The council members took McLean’s statements into account but did not vote to make any changes as the motion did not receive a second.

“A lot of things play into the confidence level that the majority council had. There’s been situations where a council member was not in cohesion with four other council members, and we’re not going to present public policy that we’re supposed to do that’s come into play – work schedules, health issues, they’re going to move,” Councilmember Weste said. “There’s been a lot of things, but in America, majority generally rules, and we have done a majority vote, and it has worked well for 25 years, and we have not had issues.”

The council adjourned the meeting in memory of stuntwoman Sammy Thurman-Brackenbury, a stuntwoman in the film industry.

Also a champion rodeo barrel racer, Thurman-Brackenbury competed in various other rodeo events during her career, including being one of the first women to compete in team roping.

Brackenbury was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2012 and to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2019, added Weste.

After the stuntwoman’s rodeo career, she moved into the movies and television as an actress where she portrayed one of the killers’ mothers in the 1967 film “In Cold Blood.”  Thurman-Brackenbury continued her stuntwork in films, such as “The Blues Brothers,” “Misery,” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” and westerns such as “Comes a Horseman,” “American Outlaws,” and “Young Guns II.”

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