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MINUTES FOR DECEMBER 12th 2019

Voting Members in Attendance:   George Wolfberg, David Card, Richard Cohen, Chris Spitz, Sue Kohl, David Kaplan, Steve Boyers, Haldis Toppel, Steve Cron, Rick Mills, Reza Akef, Dick Wulliger, Sarah Knauer, John Padden, Cathi Ruddy

Voting Alternates:  Mary Mueller, Kelly Comras

Non-voting Advisors and Alternates:  Kevin Niles, Richard Blumenberg, Bruce Schwartz, Howard Robinson, Marilyn Wexler, Andrew Wolfberg, Bob Benton, Rob Weber

1.    Certification of Quorum.  Vice-Chair David Card, acting as Presiding Officer, called the meeting to order at 6:50 pm and certified that a quorum was present.

2.    Reading of Community Council’s Mission.   The Presiding Officer read the Mission Statement.

3.    Introduction of the Board and Audience.  The Presiding Officer acknowledged and thanked the past Citizens of the Year, Community Service Awardees, Golden Sparkplug Awardees and Pride of the Palisades Honorees in attendance; the past PPCC Chairs in attendance; and current Board members in attendance.

4.    Approval of Minutes & Upcoming Meetings.  1) Approval of Minutes – approval of the minutes of 11/14/19 was deferred.  2) Upcoming Meetings – January 9, 2020: (1) awards recap; (2) PPCC operations: starting a Board discussion.  January 23, 2020: (1) Guest speaker City Controller Ron Galperin (postponed from 11/14/19); (2) Briefing on proposed Gladstones Redevelopment project.

5.    Consideration of Agenda.  The Presiding Officer announced that most items will be deferred.

6.    Treasurer’s Report Deferred.

7.    General Public Comment Deferred.

8.    Reports, Announcements and Concerns Deferred.

9.    Reports from Committees Deferred.

10.    Old BusinessNone.

11.    New Business.

11.1.    2019 PPCC Awards Presentation.  Welcome and presentation of Awards: Citizen of the Year – Kevin Niles. Golden Sparkplugs – Don Camacho, Lisa Glantz & Mike Lanning. Pride of the Palisades – George Wolfberg. Special recognition and thanks to First Responders.

The Presiding Officer welcomed the Honorees and event attendees and summarized the criteria for each of the Awards.  He also thanked numerous individuals for contributing to the success of the event, including Awards Selection Committee Chair David Kaplan, Awards Event Committee Chair Mary Mueller, all members of  the two Committees, the Pali High Ambassadors who assisted during the evening, Treasurer Richard Cohen & IT Advisor Heather Cohen, Secretary Chris Spitz for overall organization, Sue Kohl for providing the lovely flowers and table decorations, Haldis Toppel for providing the wonderful pianist Marie Captain, our bartenders during the evening John Padden & Bruce Schwartz, Manfred Hofer for designing the beautiful event program, Kayndaves for the delicious buffet and the PPWC for providing the event venue.

The Presiding Officer then introduced the government officials in attendance, who gave remarks praising the Honorees and provided certificates acknowledging their service:  Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer; Assemblymember Richard Bloom; Ami Fields-Meyer (West LA Representative, Mayor Eric Garcetti); Lisa Cahill (Palisades Deputy, Councilmember Mike Bonin); Zachary Gaidzik (West/Metro LA Field Deputy, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl); Liliana Pond (Field Representative, Sen. Ben Allen); Janet Turner (District Representative, U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu).

PPCC officers & Board members then presented the Awards and spoke about the Honorees’ achievements, as follows:

Pride of the Palisades George Wolfberg: by Awards Committee Chair & Area 6 Representative David Kaplan, Secretary Chris Spitz and Vice-Chair David Card.  Additional presentations by Brentwood Community Council (BCC) Chair Michelle Bisnoff (special BCC award expressing appreciation for George’s service to the wider community) and Janet Turner (announcement of remarks about George by Congressman Ted Lieu, entered into the U.S. Congressional Record on December 5, 2019; see pages from the Congressional Record:  https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/116th-First-Session-CR-Wolfberg-PDF.pdf).

Golden Sparkplug Don Camacho: by Chamber of Commerce Alternate Representative & PPBA League Commissioner Bob Benton.

Golden Sparkplug Lisa Glantz: by Awards Committee Chair & Area 6 Representative David Kaplan.

Golden Sparkplug Mike Lanning: by Awards Committee Chair & Area 6 Representative David Kaplan.

Citizen of the Year Kevin Niles: by Vice-Chair David Card.

The Honorees all expressed thanks to PPCC and appreciation for the community’s recognition of their service.

Following the Awards presentations, the Presiding Officer thanked our First Responders for their tremendous work in protecting the community during the recent fires and every day.  He recognized LAPD Battalion Chief Percy Jones, who spoke about the firefighters’ work and also expressed appreciation for the recognition. Additional First Responders in attendance:  the Station 69 Captains and firefighters; LAPD SLO Michael Moore, West Traffic Division Officer Ryan Basaker and Beach Patrol Officers John “Rusty” Redican and Jimmy Soliman.

12.    Adjournment.  The Presiding Officer adjourned the meeting at 8:55pm.

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