Pierson Takes Over As Malibu Mayor

MALIBU, CA — Mikke Pierson took over as mayor of Malibu Monday, succeeding Karen Farrer in the largely ceremonial role.

Pierson was first elected to the council in 2018, has served as Mayor Pro Tem for the past year. He said that he admired Mayor Farrer's leadership during one of the city's most difficult eras.

“Before our campaigns, I did not know Karen, but I can now say I feel I now have a partner on trying to figure out the many of the difficult issues Malibu faces,” Pierson said. “We don’t always agree 100 percent, but we do work very well together.”

Pierson said that he prioritizes leading the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting its schools and small businesses.

Karen Farrer said that her time in office has been challenging, but she appreciates the support of her colleagues.

“It has not been boring, I can say that,” she said. “Just when I felt like things were normalizing with the fire and rebuilding and with our flash flood, we have come into this global pandemic and some interesting times with our budget and plenty other challenges. But I do really appreciate the teamwork that I’ve seen.”

The succession occurred on the same day that the City Council voted 4-1 Monday to defer a motion to ask voters in November if they would like to directly elect their mayor.

“We need to deal with a constant threat of wildfire, rising sea levels, and daunting challenges in keeping the city financially healthy as well,” he continued.

A resolution filed in June would have set in motion a ballot measure to allow Malibu voters to decide whether they wanted to directly elect their mayor. Currently, Malibu has a council-manager style of government in which a different councilmember serves as mayor for a year. The mayor plays a figurehead role, and receives no more pay, power, or responsibilities than other councilmembers. The administrative and managerial roles are fulfilled by the city manager, who commands a substantially higher salary than the mayor.

Generally, councilmembers seemed to feel that there was not enough public support for the proposal, and it would not be an opportune time to make significant changes given the city’s current challenges.

“This is, in my opinion, even looking further at this or making it a ballot measure, a further drain on already hugely impacted resources,” said Mayor Karen Farrer. A staff report said that the city would incur costs related to changing district election maps and adding a ballot measure, though no exact figure was given.

Farrer also noted that a Strong Mayor option – in which the mayor takes on much of the city’s administrative and managerial duties and draws a substantial, full-time salary from it – is only practiced in five of California’s largest cities. She said that she doubts that a city of 13,000 with only 8,000 registered voters has the pool of candidates necessary for such an important job.

Mayor Pro Tem Mikke Pierson said that while he’s open to making changes in the future, he hasn’t heard much public interest in the matter.

“[A charter] would have to come from a concerted effort of the citizens of the city to do a proper petition in my mind, because it’s a major deal,” said Pierson, referring to the charter that would need to be written in order for the city to be able to elect a strong mayor.

“Here we are, with what’s supposedly a big issue, and we had four speakers, one of which didn’t stay and talk,” Pierson continued. “I had five people contact me – outside of them I believe there’s just a couple of letters. So I’m wondering if now is the time. We had a lot of discussion about where we are as a city. We have really big issues we’re struggling with to take care of. I don’t know that changing our form of government right now makes sense.”

Both Pierson and Councilmember Rick Mullen also voiced concern that the robust public hearings necessary could not take place over Zoom.

“If you’re gonna do open-heart surgery on the mechanics of how this city works, it’s not something you want to be doing over Zoom,” said Mullen.

Councilmember Jefferson Wagner was the lone voice in favor of moving forward, stating that he had heard from a number of constituents who wanted to make the change. Wagner said that setting up a commission to determine what voters want would be an inexpensive way of giving voters a greater say in how they want their government to run.

He also said that if the city gave voters the option to have a directly elected mayor – in which the directly-elected mayor still serves as a councilmember but may draw a higher salary, and makes appointments to boards and committees - more could get done in a shorter span of time.

“If you draft a commission, you’d allow the people to have a future the way they see it,” Wagner said. “There are a lot of people frustrated with the timing of a number of events…all these people have their frustrations that they’ve vented because the city takes so long to behave in their favor. These are the people who put us here. So an option you could say before you slam this thing down is hey, maybe we could put this out there, it’s not expensive, where we draft a commission that appoints a commission. But to overlook this and simply cast it aside, I think you’re gonna make a number of people aggravated that they didn’t get a chance to vote on a charter city.”

Before the council discussion, three residents called in to voice varying opinions on the matter. Jo Drummond said that she wanted the city to explore the strong mayor option.

“Malibu needs the expertise and experience of a long-termer who can be the face and voice of the city,” she said. “To have things go through their office and not just the city manager’s is crucial for the proper management of the city. A strong mayor will represent the voice of all Malibu residents, not just a few.”

Lance Simmons said that he feels the timing is not appropriate. “There are far-reaching logistical issues involving changing the form of local government from city council-manager to strong mayor,” he said. “Also, there will be substantial financial considerations. At this time, I am not sure we have enough information as a community to adequately assess these issues on the November ballot.”

Kraig Hill advocated forming a commission to explore becoming either a charter city with or without a strong mayor, or a directly elected mayor. “Some folks like to have a dedicated mayor for reasons of continuity and dealing with the city manager’s office,” he said. “As a new office, it’s open to folks who’ve been turned out…there are really no reasons not to let the people decide.”