City Council Preview - Oct 4

Last time we met two items that should have been discussed didn’t make it onto the agenda, so Tuesday night they are there. For those who don’t recall, I’ve summarized them below -

SCOTT VOIGTS M.I.A.

Residents were alarmed that Mayor Pro Tem Scott Voigts missed more than 20% of the meetings for Vector Control, produced not a single report to the Council, and was discovered to leave the meetings after roll call, collecting his $100 per meeting fee but failing to be there for information and the votes. Recall that Voigts fought strongly to get appointed to Vector Control even though there was a more experienced person available for the position. The purpose of the discussion is to see whether or not Voigts should be replaced as the Vector Control representative.

In between the time the issue was raised and Tuesday’s meeting, Lake Forest Elementary suffered from an outbreak of unknown causes. I was made aware of the breakout through a post on Lake Forest Town Square over the weekend. I communicated with the City Manager who also was unaware of the issue and he promised to get on it Monday morning when the SVUSD was back in office (which he did). The District had a meeting already scheduled for Wednesday night and they promised to update everyone then. Councilman Adam Nick and Bob Holtzclaw (the man who asked to be appointed to Vector Control) attended the whole meeting, and I came late, having attended the Leadership Academy earlier that night. Missing was Vector Control representative, Scott Voigts, who lives across the street from the school.

Is Scott Voigts doing the job he was asked to do? If he representing our City in a proper manner? That will be on the agenda Tuesday night.

PS - I asked the City to include the minutes from each of the Vector Control meetings so that everyone will be on the same page with regard to the data. They did not appear, for some reason, but I will have them there for the meeting in the event that Voigts' recollections stray from the facts.

DWIGHT ROBINSON – CENSURE

There is some concern that Dwight Robinson has not been entirely truthful with his ballot statement. In fact it appears that he may be downright deceitful by, among other things, claiming his Lake Forest business employs 100 people (it doesn’t) and that he was responsible for eliminating Mello Roos (he wasn’t). The County has no ability to determine whether or not ballot statements are true, but the City’s code of ethics does require it. Section 2.5 of the Conduct in Office says –

“Deter rumors and misunderstandings by making factual information available, answering questions directly, telling the truth, and admitting a lack of knowledge if one exists.” (Bold added)

Robinson is up for censure for creating “misunderstanding”, to say the least. The chances are good that this is a futile effort. Last year Robinson was up for censure charges for having called his Council colleagues “moron”, “imbecile”, “liar” and other superlatives. Here he violated the “Leadership Principles” which require him to “…promote and maintain the highest standards of personal and professional conduct in the city's government.”

The Gang of 3 failed to support the censure and it died. Which is probably what will happen now.

Robinson may survive the censure on Tuesday night, but he is up for election in November. Robinson’s “Gang of 3” have the votes to carry the day for Robinson on Tuesday night, but in a month from now, the residents of Lake Forest have a chance to tell Mr. Robinson what they think of his behavior.

CIVIC CENTER SCHEMATIC

Finally, after years and years of waiting, we are getting down to the wire. The Civic/Senior center is getting ready to go to bid. One of the last steps is the approval of the schematic design. Click Here to view. At the last meeting we approved going forward with the exterior design and at my request we will look more closely at the interior designs this week.

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 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.