Closed-Session Council Meeting, Candidate Forum, Endorsements and Hatten Pre-Trial Conference Moved to April

1. The final City Council Candidate Forum is set for Thursday, March 3 from  6-7:30 p.m. in American Martyrs Blessed Kateri Room, 1400 Deegan Place. An informal reception to meet the candidates will follow.  Candidates Viet Ngo, Kathleen Paralusz, David Lesser and Amy Howorth are vying for two open seats in the March 8 election. Get there, and remember to vote on Tuesday March 8. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. 

2. To make sure voters attend tonight's City Council Candidate Forum, Mayor Richard Montgomery is not holding his regularly scheduled Coffee Dialogue tonight. The dialogues are scheduled for the first Thursday and second Saturday of the month. Thursday coffees are at held downtown at Peet's Coffee & Tea, 328 Manhattan Beach Blvd., at 7 p.m. Saturday events are held at Manhattan Bread & Bagel, 1812 N. Sepulveda Blvd., at 10 a.m. Mayor Montgomery can be e-mailed by using rmontgomery@citymb.info.

3. Outgoing City Councilman Mitch Ward, who is termed out after eight years on council, supports Kathleen Paralusz and David Lesser in the race for two available Manhattan Beach City Council seats. Councilman Wayne Powell supports Amy Howorth and David Lesser. Mayor Pro Tem Nick Tell has chosen to be neutral and Mayor Richard Montgomery has not endorsed anyone. Councilwoman Portia Cohen, who has chosen not to seek re-election to serve another four years, has not endorsed anyone, but told Patch that she has met with Howorth, Paralusz and Lesser extensively to review city operations and goals. She called each one of them highly qualified.

4. City Council will hold a closed-session meeting Friday, March 4 beginning at 8 a.m. at City Hall, 1400 Highland Ave., in the City Managers Conference Room. The agenda lists  McKee v. City of Manhattan Beach, et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. BS126038 as one of the items that will be discussed.

5. The pre-trial conference for Richard William Hatten, II, a 36-year-old Manhattan Beach police officer who in January pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of causing a traffic collision and failing to stop at the scene while off duty, was continued to April 11 in the Torrance courtroom of Judge Stuart Rice this morning. Hatten has been on paid administrative leave since sometime in February 2010, along with two fellow MB police officers who allegedly were in his car when the accident occurred.