City Council Preview - Staring Into the Void (Again)

Our second meeting in 2016 has a very limited agenda which seems curious given the large number of items waiting to be discussed. I went back through my notes since taking office in December 2014 and looked at the issues that came up that still have not been addressed. Previously I’ve called this the “Voigts Void” but now that Scott Voigts is no longer Mayor, it’s only appropriate to talk about the “Void”. I’m going to pick a few of them and list them chronologically and not by importance. Where possible I’ve included the actual language from the minutes of the meeting, although in a few cases the minutes did not provide the complete details.

COUNCIL CONSENSUS (1/6/15)

“It was moved by Council Member Robinson, second by Council Member Gardner, to define Council consensus as three members of the City Council for the purposes of placing items on future City Council agendas. It was further moved to revisit this discussion in six months to review any potential effects of the change.”

The requested review has never happened, despite the request being brought up at least once since then. It is now over a year later and the report was supposed to be turned in after 6 months.

Council consensus is a vital way in which our government works, and it can be dampened when a voting bloc seeks to control what happens. In recent months, requests for consensus have failed on many occasions, including

• · Allow Col. Tom Cagley to talk about the Grand Jury
• · Evaluate City Manager performance
• · Get bid for proposal for alternatives to animal shelter
• · Form a dog park committee
• · Discuss election by district instead of city-wide
• · Discuss Saddleback Ranch Rd construction
• · City not indemnify council members when they violate the law

The Council specifically asked to know what impact the change in requirements had, so that it could be changed back if the impact was negative. But we’ve received nothing.

VILLAGE POND PARK (3/3/15)

“staff directed to return the ordinance to the City Council for review after the re-opening of Village Pond Park, and further directed staff add qualitative measurements to be used during the evaluation process after the ordinance is implemented.”

The “qualitative measurements” were never done. Without knowing the effectiveness of the ordinance, the City could be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that don’t have to be spent. We have no idea of how well the ordinance is doing and what the current situation is vis-a-vis the wildlife droppings. Meanwhile, the remodeling of the Park that was supposed to have started already hasn’t even reached the Council with the plans.

GLOBAL ASSET DISCUSSION (3/17/15)

The need for this type of discussion was officially raised on March 17 and has come up at subsequent meetings (June 16). The City Council is making all kinds of decisions without taking into account all the needs that the City has and all the assets we have to try to meet these needs. Instead, issues are discussed in isolation. From any perspective, that’s not a good way to do forward planning.

CITY WEBSITE (5/19/15)

“Responding to Council inquiry, City Attorney Richardson stated the website functions as a limited public forum and the City may choose which community groups and subjects may post to the City’s website…”

Staff was asked to make the City website less staff centric and more resident centric, and to include more community group activities and opportunities to volunteer and interact with volunteer groups in Lake Forest. The Calendar remains virtually the same with no listings of the dozens of other events happening in the City, and the Volunteer page lists very few opportunities outside those directly related to the City.

The website is for the City and the people, not for the staff alone. We should be promoting the City and all the wonderful events that happen here and all the marvelous people who volunteer to make our life better.

PARADE BUDGET (7/7/15)

“At the request of Council Member Nick, consensus to agendize a broad discussion of the Parade’s budget was provided by Council Member Gardner and Council Member Robinson.”

It looked like we were spending more money than we should on the 4th of July Parade. Staff was instructed to bring back details of the Parade budget so that the Council could review and adjust. But the Parade Committee will start meeting again in a few weeks and staff have provided no information.

COST SAVINGS (7/21/15)

“…the City Council provided consensus to agendize a discussion of cost savings programs implemented in other cities.”

The OC Sheriff’s Department raised our fees by nearly $1,000,000 so the Council was interested in learning about ways in which other cities had saved money. Six months after the request, staff has provided no information. Who knows how many tens of thousands of dollars have been lost.

PARKING NEAR BENNET RANCH (11/17/15)

“…direct staff to evaluate the parking options along Cherry Avenue, including the south side of Cherry Street across from Viejo West condominiums and above Second Street, evaluate the parking options on the west side of Jeronimo to include establishing residential, non-commercial overnight parking, evaluate the red curb zone on Second Street and Cherry Avenue adjacent to the Viejo West condominiums for possible permit parking for the condominiums, and review the Permit Parking Policy for possible amendment as it relates to multifamily residential uses…”

The Parking Permit program creates as many problems as it solves, and in the process of granting permits we saw that existing policies were adding to the problem. To date, we’ve gotten no report back so many of the people displaced by the permit system are struggling to find a place to park. That’s not good. You don’t want to come home after work and worry about finding a place to park.

ITEMS NOT LISTED

There are just as many items I left off this list, some of which are relatively minor (e.g., Fallen Heroes page that was never created), some of which have not yet reached their deadline (CDBG grant analysis that hasn’t been done), and some of which just came up in the past two months.

SUMMARY

There are about a dozen items waiting to be discussed. They have financial consequences (Village Pond Park, Cost Savings, Parade Budget, Global Assets, Supporting local artists) and quality of life consequences (Parking, Village Pond Park, City Website), yet the Council will have a very short meeting with plenty of time left over to have brought up one of these important issues.

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 on Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library

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