A city tree committee member, whose posting on a Facebook page about an African music event at a high school has become controversial, will keep his appointed volunteer position.

A motion by Councilmember Joy Lyndes to remove Steven Houbeck from the city’s Urban Forest Advisory Committee failed to win a second backer late Wednesday.

The three other City Council members and the city’s mayor said they didn’t support the comments Houbeck posted about the African drumming and dance performance in February, but stressed that he had since apologized and this ought to be a teaching moment for the community, rather than a reason to take punitive action against Houbeck.

Houbeck didn’t attend Wednesday’s council meeting, but submitted a video statement that was played at the start of the item’s public comment period. His video began with an extensive outline of his career in the military and as an attorney, then he apologized for the Facebook posting, which he said “may have conveyed the wrong impression.”

His video exceeded the council’s 3-minute, individual time limit on public comment, and the mayor ordered the video cut off just after Houbeck made his apology statement.

The controversy over Houbeck’s African music event comment began in February — the same month that the council voted to appoint him to the Urban Forest Advisory Committee, a volunteer group that advises the city on tree issues.

Houbeck, who is White, posted a comment to a public Facebook page saying that the San Dieguito Union High School District had celebrated Black History Month by hosting a high school event where people in tribal outfits just drummed and danced around. He later said that his comments reflected his view that the school district should have celebrated Black people in other ways, such as highlighting high-achieving people who are Black. He said he did not mean his posting to be seen as a derogatory comment about Black people.

However, people who are active in San Diego County’s West African drumming community found his comments extremely offensive and they have been coming to City Council meetings in recent weeks to speak during the time the council sets for non-agenda items. They’ve been joined by people who disagree with Houbeck’s political views and say he also has made offensive comments about the town’s left-leaning residents.

The political element also is reflected in the council’s split over the issue. Lyndes currently is the council’s lone registered Democrat — the others lost election bids in 2024.

She said Wednesday that she made the agenda request because others on the council hadn’t done so, even though the African drumming supporters have come to multiple council meetings in recent weeks. Houbeck, Lyndes said, has become a “lightening rod for our community” and it isn’t in the best interests of the city to keep him on the commission. What he said about the student-organized, African music event was “deeply offensive,” and “if you think it’s OK, then you don’t understand” the harm it has caused, Lyndes said.

The mayor said he, too, found Houbeck’s original Facebook posting “racially demeaning and offensive,” but said he couldn’t support dismissing him from the committee.

“If someone expresses discriminatory statements, let us coach them, teach them and hopefully grow together,” Ehlers said, adding that he wouldn’t recommend this if the person engaged in “repeated occurrences or egregious statements or acts.”

Councilmember Marco San Antonio, who described himself as the “only Asian guy” on the council, said he wouldn’t have made the African dance comment in the way Houbeck did; Councilmember Jim O’Hara said he knew first-hand the challenges of making an apology as a public official and said he appreciated Houbeck’s apology; and Councilmember Luke Shaffer, who said he had “half-Latin” relatives, said he believed that instead of trying to find common ground, “activists” were deliberately stirring up the issue to get on TV.

Ehlers also told the crowd that he didn’t think Lyndes should have put the item on the agenda. He said that a civil rights claim regarding the issue currently is being investigated by the city and it’s due to be wrapped up next week. After that is done would be the better time to discuss the issue, the mayor said. The council’s next meeting is May 13.