2 Huntington Beach residents continue effort to overturn city’s Pacific Airshow settlement

Two Huntington Beach residents continue their attempt to overturn the city’s controversial 2023 settlement with Pacific Airshow LLC.

Former Huntington Beach Planning Commissioner Mark Bixby and former Mayor Connie Boardman filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court on Friday, seeking to cancel the settlement and refund money already paid out to the air show operator.

“As a Huntington Beach resident and taxpayer, I’ve been paying close attention to City Hall for more than 20 years and this is the most outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars that I have ever seen,” Bixby said in a statement. “The city could have easily defended against the air show operator’s lawsuit over cancellation due to the oil spill, but instead chose to settle without a fight by paying millions of dollars to a close political supporter of the City Council majority and the city attorney. This cannot be allowed to stand.”

The settlement, announced in May 2023, was to bring an end to a lawsuit filed against the city after the cancellation of the final day of the 2021 show due to an oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach.

Bixby and Boardman allege in their lawsuit that the city’s settlement with Pacific Airshow LLC is without merit, amounting to an illegal gift of public funds. They filed their action under a section of a state code that allows a resident taxpayer to file suit to enjoin a waste of public funds.

Then-Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland speaks during a press conference about the Pacific Airshow on May 9, 2023.

(File Photo)

The full settlement not only stipulated that the city would pay Pacific Airshow LLC a total of $4.9 million over the next six years but also include terms that could lock the operator into that role for 40 years at a worth of tens of millions of dollars more. A long-term contract has not been agreed to, however.

The city agreed to the settlement before its demurrer against Pacific Airshow LLC was decided.

“In the eight years I served on the Huntington Beach City Council, I never saw a case where the city settled before the judge even ruled on the city’s motion to dismiss,” Boardman said in a statement. “It is particularly egregious here, where it is obvious that the city is not responsible for canceling one day of the air show. The oil spill caused the cancellation.”

When the settlement was announced, City Atty. Michael Gates prepared a one-page executive summary rather than releasing the full settlement, citing possible pending litigation against oil pipeline operator Amplify Energy. After her California Public Records Act request was denied, Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin sued to get the full settlement released, which occurred last July after Judge Jonathan Fish ruled in her favor.

Meanwhile, Bixby and Boardman filed to intervene as part of the original lawsuit against Huntington Beach in June 2023, but Judge Martha Gooding blocked the intervention request, saying they lacked standing.

Spectators watch as a plane flies over the Huntington Beach Pier for the start of the first day of the 2024 Pacific Airshow.

(James Carbone)

“We wanted to essentially stand in the shoes of the city if the city wasn’t going to defend the case and pursue the demurrer that the city had filed,” said attorney Lee Fink, who is representing Bixby and Boardman.

According to Fink, once the details of the settlement were released, Bixby and Boardman waited to see how the case played out in Pacific Airshow’s separate suit against Kim Carr, who was the mayor during the 2021 air show. Pacific Airshow LLC filed to dismiss its lawsuit against Carr in November.

Gates said in a statement Monday that nothing has changed since the last time that Bixby and Boardman tried to file suit.

“This lawsuit is a rehash of the same and still no standing,” Gates said. “The city of Huntington Beach spends way too much taxpayer money defending frivolous lawsuits from vexatious litigants. The residents should take notice. This lawsuit too will be thrown out.”

Gates said he believes the third payment of the $4.9 million is being readied. The settlement states it would be due by Jan. 30.

In October, California state auditor Grant Parks sued Huntington Beach because he said the city wasn’t cooperating with an audit of the Pacific Airshow lawsuit approved by the California Joint Legislative Audit Committee.