City Council Review for Jan 17 (Pets and Resident Rights)

Here’s what happened last Tuesday night.

RESIDENTS BILL OF RIGHTS

The other day I suggested a “Resident’s Bill of Rights” and the Council adopted the principles with a 5 to 0 vote, adding changes where needed and incorporating the principles into our existing guidelines.

The major changes will be to the sign in process, halting the 3-minute cut-off, and providing a more systematic way to answer residents’ questions.

Residents have had a tough time for the past two years. Let's hope that going forward they will be allowed to participate fully in the process.

PET ISSUES

Dog Licenses - We formalized the drop in the price of dog licenses for altered dogs from $27 to $20, along with a 50% discount to seniors. That’s good for dog owners, but it also means that the City General Fund will have to pick up the $30,000 to $45,000 drop in income.

Data - We also got approval to develop a series of data points we want to get from Orange County Animal Care (OCAC), an agency known to falsify their data. My suggestions are

• How many licenses were issued (including for what purposes and whether or not they are new or renewals)
• How many animals were euthanized (including what kind of animal it was, and why it was euthanized. This data should also include the age of the animal since OCAC does not normally include newly born puppies and kittens in their calculations)
• How many animals were adopted (including what kind of animal it was.)
• How many animals were transferred (including what kind of animal it was and what agency or rescue group took the animal)
• How many animals were admitted (including what kind of animal it was, spayed or neutered, and why it was admitted e.g., picked up a stray, owner surrender).

The Police provide monthly data on Part 1 crimes. Why should OCAC not provide the same service? I sent my suggestions to staff and am anxiously waiting for the issue to come back to the Council so we can start getting this data ASAP. Along with these data points, I've asked for an update on the new shelter construction, a summary of the secret meetings, and a spreadsheet for each individual animal who was admitted during the month (so we can validate the group data). OCAC does not do this for any other City, so Lake Forest may create the model for everyone else.

FWIW - getting data does not insure quality care and service, but it's a start.

Secret meetings – OCAC is infamous for their secret meetings and they intend to keep going, with meetings closed to the public and no access to minutes. We got agreement 5 to 0 from the Council that our representative will give us a summary of what happens at each of these secret meetings.

Next time we’ll look at the Planning Commission appointments.

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 February at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.