The City of Los Alamitos dedicated most of its September meeting to the heroes of the city’s police department, as Chief Michael Clayborn paid tribute to the outstanding dedication of many on his staff.
Ironically, Claborn reserved the most reverent recognition on this night for a man who wore a badge of honor for years by literally keeping the department rolling through the community for more than four decades.
“In our last and final award, we are here to honor Sarkis Manoukian, a man who had a direct relationship with everyone in the department and who was a pillar of this community,” said Claborn.
“When I knew I was going to be doing this presentation, I started talking to more and more people and what I learned from everyone is that Sarkis was one of the most gracious people you could ever meet,” the police chief said.
Manoukian, from a family of Armenian descent, ran Norm’s Automotive in Los Alamitos for four decades before his untimely death last month, performing all kinds of automotive tasks to keep the city’s police cruisers operating at peak performance, the chief said.
More than that, however, Claborn said what he learned is that “Sarkis would perform automotive repairs for people in need without charging them and would do the same for nonprofits in the city.”
“That just goes to show what kind of human being he was, and he was unfortunately taken from us way too early,” said Claborn.
With the Manoukian family gathered around, Claborn said “as a city, and as a police department, we are doing our best to share with the family with a heavy heart, that he is not here and we will miss him and we can’t thank the family enough for being able to share him with us all those years,” the Chief said.
Sarkis’ son Michael echoed the Chief’s words, saying that although he had worked beside his father for 15 years, he had no idea “why my father worked so hard…until I am now wearing his shoes.”
Along with his other brother David, and with his uncles Sean and Ned, they worked together at the shop, not realizing the many things Sarkis was doing to help people, his son said.
“The shop was basically a means for him to provide for people, to give and just do the right thing,” the younger Manoukin said. “We learned that the shop was so much bigger than him, so much bigger than us,” he said.
“The outpouring of the community has meant a lot to us,” he said, “telling us stories about who my father was, giving us food, giving us gifts and just giving us their time. We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts,” said Manoukin.
The community at large gathered at Rush Park on Sunday for a Celebration of Sarkis Manoukin’s life (see related story).
Claborn named Detective Steven Smith as “Officer of the Year,” noting that “he consistently produces an above average volume of work and his consistency exceeds expectations for someone in his position.
Moreover, Chief Claborn said Smith “is about as likeable as a person can get. It makes me happy,” he said, to know that when other officers are always happy when they look at the schedule and see that Smith is their partner.
He cited Smith’s efforts and undercover work in the arrests of suspects attempting to scam elderly residents of tens of thousands of dollars. “For these reasons and many more, we have selected him as “Officer of the Year.”“I’d like to thank my family and my partners, I’m thankful for our Chief and leadership here and for the opportunity to serve here in this city. It is a great place to work so thank you all,” said Smith.
Claborn presented the “Citizen of the Year” Award to Candace Casarez, a local apartment property manager who helped police resolve a situation in a parking complex “in which officers needed to identify potential suspects and vehicles involved as soon as possible.”
“Candace worked late into the evening, patiently reviewing surveillance footage and providing every bit of information she could. She has long since established a relationship with the police department, doing more than her part to keep residents safe,” said Claborn.
“I’ve lived in Los Alamitos since I was in the sixth grade, so this means a lot to me,” she told the Chief. “I like being the eyes and ears of the community,” she said.
In other tributes, Claborn named Kathi Moen as “Dispatcher of the Year,” Randy Smith as “Volunteer of the Year” and Nichole Sayers as “Employee of the Year.”
He said Sayers’ attention to detail, calm disposition and sheer professionalism has improved the department’s training systems that will “leave a lasting impact” on the department.
In other action, the City Council proclaimed October as Hunger Action Month and heard from a representative from Summer Harvest that in 2025, the nonprofit assisted 359,000 people in the county of Orange who were experiencing food insecurity, including 86,000 children.
Also, the city heard Council member Emily Hibard thank former commander Lt. Col. Dan Fox, who recently relinquished command of the Joint Forces Training Base, for his work in her district, which is adjacent to the base.
“Col. Fox didn’t just oversee operations on the base, he made things happen in the community,” said Hibard. She provided specific examples of where Fox stepped up to fix problems that lingered before he arrived.
Mayor Shelley Hasselbrink said she will speak at the League of California Cities convention in October, seeking to create “a small cities group to share each other’s ideas” to benefit smaller cities.