City Council Preview - July 21

Tonight at 7 pm the Council will discuss -

Allowing a new store to sell beer and wine in an area that is already over-saturated with stores selling beer and wine.

Exploring alternatives to the contract for Police services between the City and OCSD.

Exploring alternatives to the contract for animal care between the City and Orange County.

With regard to the last two items, it is the stated policy of this Council for staff to bring us at least 3 bids for every contract. For Police services and for animal care, there is only one contract before the Council. Faced with no alternative, of course the Council will vote to continue. But moving forward, the Council should vote to explore alternatives to both of these contracts. In the end, we may not be able to find a contract that provides equivalent (or better) service at a lower price, but we owe it to our citizens to try.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

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