# Complete candidate submissions — Edward Bayuk and Mark Orgill The following submissions are presented verbatim. Headings and spacing are provided for navigation only. ## Ed Bayuk — verbatim submission Dear Alan, Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Here are my answers to the seven questions. 1. Election reform and Measure E Yes. I support Measure E’s term limits, and Laguna should study an election system in which a council candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote, with a runoff if no candidate reaches that threshold. We should examine Seal Beach’s model and other options, including the costs and effects of district elections, before deciding what fits Laguna. Councilmembers make decisions that affect the whole community. Residents deserve an open discussion and a vote on any proposed change. 2. Hospital and emergency care My minimum acceptable outcome is 24-hour emergency care that accepts ambulances, together with inpatient acute care in Laguna Beach. Providence’s recent agreement to study a smaller hospital is a step, but it is not a commitment to provide one. If Providence will not preserve those services, the City should seek another qualified operator and evaluate acquiring the property, including whether “eminent domain” is lawful and justified for this public purpose regarding public safety and public health. Any appraisal and financial analysis must account for necessary building and seismic upgrades. Residents should see the options, costs, and deadlines. I do not want a study or a reassuring announcement to become a substitute for an enforceable outcome. Providence Hospital recent channel 7 ABC announcement was obvious a public relations announcement in an Election year because of bad press of the two past public meeting with city residents and the obvious intentions of the hospital. 3. Forest Avenue Promenade Yes. I want one public accounting covering the temporary closure, staff time, SWA and other consultants, construction drawings, contracts, change orders, legal expenses, lost parking revenue, funding sources, approval dates, and ongoing maintenance. It should explain the decisions and costs associated with removing and replacing the Forest Avenue trees. I also want the City to identify when it first learned of the trees’ root and health problems and what could have been discovered before construction. Common sense should have realized if you dig up the whole street you would lose most of the trees hence why Ocean and Beach redevelopment should not happen now after learning a sad serious lesson from Forest Avenue construction. Finally, residents deserve a clear explanation of the timing, necessity, and approval of the approximately $325,000 in additional SWA drawing costs that I have questioned. 4. Visitor-generated costs I oppose a special tax on restaurants. They serve residents throughout the year and should not bear the City’s visitor costs alone. I would review parking meter rates, enforcement, and locations, particularly in heavily visited beach areas, so visitors contribute more directly. I would also explore two transferable guest parking permits for each eligible household in affected residential areas, subject to a workable program and protection against misuse. The City should publish an estimate of tourism-related public costs and show how much additional parking revenue these changes could reasonably produce. 5. Emergency preparedness Yes. Laguna should hold a real neighborhood wildfire-evacuation exercise by August 2027. It should test phone alerts, outdoor warning systems, evacuation routes, blocked roads, and assistance for residents who need help. We should verify how warnings and communications function during a power outage, then publish what the exercise teaches us. I also want a public accounting of the approximately $850,000 I understand was spent on the emergency operations facility at the Community and Recreation Center. The City should explain why that investment was chosen and compare its capabilities and costs with a fully operational “mobile command center” that could operate where an emergency occurs or could be moved anywhere in the city North Laguna, South Laguna, Top of The World. Taxpayers deserve to see the operational reasons for the choice. 6. Fiscal priorities Before supporting a new tax or fee, I would propose postponing approximately $500,000 of discretionary Ocean Avenue and Beach Street streetscape work, subject to identifying what remains uncommitted. Residents would wait for some visual and pedestrian upgrades; I would preserve essential safety and accessibility work. I have urged Public Works to study Seal Beach’s Main Street tree planters(triple in size) and level sidewalks (no tripping hazards) before Laguna repeats designs that may create maintenance or trip hazards on Ocean and Beach development project. I also want stronger financial oversight by staff with “accounting expertise” and a clearer review of project bids. If a first round of bids is unreasonable, the City should consider revising the scope and bidding again where practical. A proper city audit committee needs to have at least one person with accounting background to operate correctly. 7. Laguna in 10 years I would be proudest if residents could say the City had become more transparent about its finances and decisions, repaired essential infrastructure, and protected Laguna’s character. That requires reliable records, careful spending, and listening before making lasting changes. Open-space issues affect more than Laguna Canyon. They include areas throughout the City, including the litigation involving the Dorin Investment Group after its reported purchase of approximately 11 lots near the Rim Rock Canyon area in November 2022. Because of the complexity and sensitivity of these matters, I recommend that the City consider hiring independent, outside investigators with relevant federal investigative and forensic-computer expertise. Their role would be to conduct an impartial audit of electronic records and decision-making processes across appropriate City departments, including Planning and Community Development and, if legally authorized and necessary, the Police Department. The purpose would not be to presume wrongdoing or target any individual. It would be to determine whether records were altered, whether required procedures were followed, and whether any misuse of authority, conflicts of interest, or inappropriate “quid pro quo”, arrangements occurred in the past or are occurring now. Any investigation should be conducted under clear legal safeguards, with appropriate protection for confidential information and a public report of its findings. If I am not elected, I fear that piecemeal decisions could change downtown and our neighborhoods beyond recognition while sewer and fire-safety needs remain unresolved. I am hopeful that emerging technologies of fire-detection, communications, and firefighting tools will help protect homes and open space. We should evaluate those tools carefully and work toward making Laguna safer and more insurable, without assuming that technology alone can eliminate wildfire risk. At the same time, we should not allow fear to drive our decisions, because fear can lead to rushed or misguided choices. Laguna needs thoughtful, fact-based decisions that protect residents without sacrificing sound judgment. ## Mark Orgill — verbatim submission 1 Election reform and Measure E Should Laguna study the Seal Beach model or other election reforms? If not, why is Laguna's present system preferable? I am open to studying election reforms, including runoffs, ranked-choice voting and term limits, but I would not assume that Seal Beach's system is automatically right for Laguna Beach. Seal Beach elects one representative from each district; Laguna voters elect multiple councilmembers citywide. In a multi-seat election, voters may choose several candidates, so receiving votes on fewer than half of all ballots does not mean a majority voted against that candidate. Any review should identify the problem we are trying to solve and compare costs, voter participation, representation and unintended consequences. District elections could divide a small city into political boundaries, while a separate runoff would add expense and may reduce turnout. I support an open, evidence-based public discussion, but any major change should be clearly explained and decided by Laguna Beach voters. 2 Hospital and emergency care What is your minimum acceptable outcome for the Laguna Beach hospital property, and what should the City do if Providence will not preserve 24-hour emergency and inpatient acute care? My minimum acceptable outcome is preserving a best-in-class, 24-hour emergency department and meaningful inpatient acute-care capability in Laguna Beach, whether at the existing hospital or through a feasible replacement. An urgent-care center alone is not an adequate substitute for a community with constrained access, millions of annual visitors, and serious wildfire and evacuation risks. The City should continue negotiating with Providence while simultaneously evaluating other operators, nonprofit or public ownership, a healthcare district or joint-powers partnership, alternative sites, state legislative relief, grants, and philanthropy. I would consider voter-approved financing only after independent analysis establishes the community's healthcare needs, seismic and retrofit options, capital and operating costs, and a credible operator. We should act urgently, but we should not promise that the City can operate a hospital without first establishing its medical, legal, and financial feasibility. 3 Forest Avenue Promenade Will you support one complete, public accounting of every Promenade-related cost, from the temporary closure through final construction and continuing maintenance? Yes. I support one complete public accounting of Promenade-related expenditures. It should separately identify the temporary pandemic-era closure, permanent design and construction, infrastructure, furnishings, maintenance, lost meter revenue, grants and restricted funds, and work that would have been required regardless of the Promenade. It should include approved budgets, contracts, change orders, credits and the final project cost. That accounting should also explain what the community received. The Promenade grew from the community-driven Vision Laguna 2030 effort and its call for a more pedestrian-oriented downtown. From time to time, I hear that we could have retained vehicle traffic while adding parklets for expanded outdoor dining. While that hybrid approach would have provided dining space, it would not have created a complete promenade: a community social and gathering space free from automobiles and the noise, congestion and safety risks of vehicle traffic. Residents deserve both the complete numbers and the complete context. 4 Visitor-generated costs Should restaurants bear any part of a special tax aimed at visitors? Identify the tax, fee or other revenue source you would support so visitors pay a greater share of tourism-related public costs. I would not support a special tax imposed only on restaurants. Residents patronize our restaurants, and many local establishments already operate on narrow margins. I do believe visitors should contribute more toward the services their presence requires. I support peak-period visitor parking rates, while preserving meaningful resident parking benefits, and fair market-based fees for exclusive commercial use of public space. Revenue generated from those sources should be transparently dedicated to visitor-related costs such as public safety, marine safety, sanitation, transportation, parking management and environmental stewardship. I also helped redirect approximately $500,000 annually from tourism promotion toward City stewardship. The principle should be simple: identify costs created by visitor volume, use lawful revenue mechanisms that most directly reach visitors, protect resident-serving businesses, and publicly report how the money is spent. 5 Emergency preparedness Should Laguna conduct an actual neighborhood wildfire-evacuation exercise, not merely an agency tabletop exercise? If so, by when? I support the City using the most effective professionally recommended process within the next 12 months and before the peak 2027 fire season to ensure that an actual emergency evacuation would be as safe, orderly and seamless as possible. That may include neighborhood evacuation exercises, phased drills, evacuation modeling, communications testing or a combination of approaches. The appropriate methods should be determined by our Fire and Police departments in consultation with emergency-management professionals. The process should test notifications, traffic control, evacuation routes, emergency-vehicle access, backup communications, assistance for residents with mobility or transportation needs, and regional coordination. Results should be documented publicly, including identified bottlenecks, communication failures, corrective measures, responsible departments and completion dates. The purpose is to learn what works, identify weaknesses and improve our readiness before an actual emergency. 6 Fiscal priorities Before supporting a new tax or fee, name one City expenditure or project you would reduce, postpone or eliminate. Provide an approximate amount and identify the service or benefit residents would give up. Before supporting a new tax or fee, I would continue reducing reliance on outside legal and consulting services, targeting savings of several hundred thousand dollars annually as appropriate work moves to our in-house Legal Department and qualified City staff. The tradeoff would be fewer outside-consultant hours and potentially longer timelines for lower-priority studies; specialized legal and technical expertise would still be retained when necessary. I would also require a five-year financial forecast and a review of vacancies, contracts and the timing of discretionary capital projects before asking residents for additional revenue. Essential public safety, infrastructure maintenance and direct resident services should be protected. Responsible budgeting does not mean selecting an arbitrary essential service to eliminate before the purpose and amount of a proposed tax are known. It means demonstrating that efficiencies and lower-priority spending have been addressed first. 7 Laguna in 10 years If you serve on the City Council, what one accomplishment would you be proudest to attribute to your tenure? If you are not elected, what change or loss would you most fear seeing in Laguna? Ten years from now, I would be proudest if Laguna had continued strengthening our Fire and Police services, wildfire prevention, emergency medical response and evacuation readiness while implementing a community-stewardship framework through the General Plan and Local Coastal Program. Built around culture, heritage and the environment, that framework would protect coastal access while safeguarding our neighborhoods, infrastructure, artistic community, historic character and natural resources. My experience as a builder, business owner, civic leader and councilmember, and relationships established locally and with government agencies, give me a distinctive ability to bring people together and move this work from vision to implementation. If I am not elected, I would fear losing that momentum and losing what makes Laguna unique through unmanaged visitor pressure, environmental decline, state mandates, and the displacement of artists, businesses and community institutions. Change is inevitable; losing Laguna's culture, heritage, environment and sense of community is not.