Huntington Beach mayor talks about government’s ‘essential role’ during State of the City event

Tony Strickland has said it often during his yearlong term as mayor of Huntington Beach.

He repeated it again Thursday morning at the annual State of the City breakfast at the Senior Center at Central Park.

“I think the most essential role of government is public safety,” Strickland said.

A new contract for the Huntington Beach Police Officer Assn. was one of the first things he mentioned during his remarks at the event, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

The police got a three-year contract, including a 5% salary increase each year, as part of the budget that the City Council passed in June.

“When we came in as a council together, we were 28 officers down,” Strickland said. “That really tells you the great work that our law enforcement and our fire [department] do. Think about all of the big events that we have here … without incident.”

In a video that was played after Strickland’s remarks, Huntington Beach Police Chief and interim City Manager Eric Parra said the raises would make a difference.

“We’re attracting young people,” Parra said. “Young people aren’t attracted to this profession anymore, but they are attracted to better pay, better benefits. What we include in that is a wellness component to that benefit, so we keep our officers safe, but we also need to keep our veterans here. We need to keep the skilled, experienced officers here so that they can train the younger ones on how to do police work best.”

Guests at Thursday’s event watch a video featuring Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland.

(Matt Szabo)

Strickland will not be exiting the dais at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but he will be passing the gavel to current Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark. Van Der Mark was also featured in the video, along with conservative council members Casey McKeon and Pat Burns, Parra, City Atty. Michael Gates and public affairs manager Jennifer Carey, among others.

The three council members often on the other end of the commonplace 4-3 votes, Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton, were not in the video, though Moser did attend the event.

Carey, who worked with a production company to make the video, said that was their choice.

“Everyone was offered an opportunity to be in the video,” Carey said. “The four that were in it were the ones that wanted to take the opportunity.”

Kalmick confirmed that he declined and offered a statement via text message.

“The council majority overturned norms of nonpartisan local government, built nothing and tarnished or destroyed the institutions of Huntington Beach,” he said. “I wanted nothing to do with being or looking complicit in those actions.”

Among other things highlighted in the State of the City, Strickland mentioned stopping the Pacific Airshow from leaving the city — albeit via a multimillion-dollar settlement that some have critiqued — and exiting the Orange County Power Authority. The video also touched on the city’s continued housing fight with the state of California.

Additionally, the city has a new website expected to launch in early 2024.

Strickland talked about his accessibility. He did several town hall meetings and community coffee events, while launching the Mayor’s Community Spotlight awards.

He also got to play Johnny Carson, as he put it, and conduct interviews for Mayor’s Roundtable videos.

Visit Huntington Beach CEO Kelly Miller gives a presentation during Thursday’s State of the City event.

(Matt Szabo)

“It’s not the critic who counts, but it’s the man or woman who’s actually in the arena trying to make things better who deserves the credit,” Strickland said.

He then closed with a quote from President Richard Nixon — “Others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

Visit Huntington Beach CEO Kelly Miller also gave a presentation, ending it with discussion of Huntington Beach’s push to host the surfing competitions at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Miller said he worked in Atlanta in the lead up to the 1996 Summer Olympics and saw the benefit.

“We’ve worked for several years on this,” he said. “If this happens — and we’ll know in March — it will be transformative for this community for many generations to come,” he said.