COST AND EFFICIENCY OF SHERIFF SERVICES
Several years ago Councilman Nick and I asked that our colleagues approve a plan to study the cost and efficiency of OCSD services. Our motion lost 3 to 2, with Councilmen Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson arguing strongly that everything was fine and no study needed to be done. Flash forward and now the City Managers from 13 cities have concluded what Nick and I knew awhile ago.
The cities, under the direction of Mission Viejo, the largest city by population, are proposing to spend $300,000 of which Lake Forest would contribute $39,531.
Lake Forest currently spends nearly 40% of our budget on Police services, which comes to $16,134,298. Without adding any new people, the budget has been increasing, especially in the past few years. By FY 2021 staff projects spending $18,815,609, and that’s without adding the extra police necessary for the nearly 5,000 new homes that will be built by then.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Across all cities, law enforcement has increased 33% in the past 10 years, and 26% of that increase occurred in the past 5 years. What was once a 0.3% to 3.0% average annual increase has grown to between 5.7% and 7.4%.
TRANSITION TO DISTRICT ELECTIONS
Tuesday will be our second public hearing on the transition to district elections. District elections have been previously discussed here, here, here, and here.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Reminder - The deadline for everyone to submit a map is September 19.
I conducted a poll of readers of the FB page, Lake Forest Town Square, of which there are currently more than 650 residents. Here are the results –
- 58% - did not have enough information to make an informed decision
- 33% - liked the idea of district elections
- 8% - disliked the idea of district elections
- 2% - disliked the idea of district elections but would go along with the idea to avoid a lawsuit.
CIVIC CENTER UPDATE
We are moving forward on schedule
- Rough grading – May 2017 – November 2017
- Utilities and streets – Sept 2017 – Spring 2018
- Parking Garage – Fall 2017 – Spring 2018
- Buildings – December 2017 – Summer 2019
- Habitat restoration – January 2018 – April 2018
VETERANS PARK
As reported earlier (Click Here) the Veterans Park Committee asked for a budget to plan the area. Staff is proposing that we spend $31,700 to pay NUVIS to design the new area. This seems excessive to me and I'd rather hire a local designer/architect to do the job.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The City has about $4 million in funds to spend on affordable housing. Staff recommends that the City use National CORE, a non-profit affordable housing developer that provides a variety of services including site acquisition, planning and development, construction, property management, and compliance. National CORE is an industry-leading affordable housing developer with more than 20 years of experience developing, managing, and operating affordable housing projects throughout Southern California. To further support its efforts, National CORE has partnered with Innovative Housing Opportunities and RRM Design Group to design and construct a high-quality project. In addition, National Core partnered with supportive service providers such as the Hope through Housing Foundation, the “Strong Families, Strong Children Collaboration”, Mercy House, and Families Forward. These organizations would provide assistance to the families housed in the affordable units as appropriate.
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 mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on Sept 9 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.
