City Council Review for May 9 Budget Workshop

During the budget workshop the Council made a lot of decisions. Here’s a brief summary. Almost all decisions were unanimous. The person(s) presenting the item is identified. Where known, the costs of the project are listed.

Note – in some cases we approved staff looking into a project and reporting back to us in a few weeks at the formal budget meeting. These items begin with the word “Consider”.

PARKS

• Consider creating a “splash pad” in one of our parks (Robinson). I asked that the opinions of the neighbors be sought before the pad was put in because the pads would attract people from everywhere, and I know many people want their parks to be “neighborhood” parks and not attract a lot of people from outside the neighborhood.
• Make it easier to have a portable mound for use at the Sports Park so that more Little League games can be played. (Robinson)
• Consider replacing the natural turf at the Sports Park with synthetic turf, given the enormous costs of replacing the natural turf - $500,000 after 3 years. (Voigts/Gardner)
• Move Whispering Hills discussion to strategic planning sessions (Basile)

COMMUNICATION

• Have an annual meeting with CEOs of top 10/15 companies in the City to discuss collaborative projects. (Robinson/Gardner) - $700
• Have an annual meeting with the Presidents of the HOAs in the City to discuss collaborative projects. (Basile/Gardner) - $700
• Move forward with mobile app to improve communications between residents and the city (Gardner). $15,000
• Increase social media budget by up to $50,000 to promote City projects- e.g., “Don’t make it easy”, “Shop and Dine”. (Hamilton). I asked that the staff provide data on the effectiveness of each of these programs so we get the best bang for the buck. - $50,000

ANIMAL SERVICES

• Ask Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) for their recommendation on reducing late fees. Council suggested $20 initial fee and then $5 monthly. (Gardner/Basile)
• Lower age for senior citizen discount license for altered dogs from 65 to 60. (Gardner/Voigts).
• Add shade structure to Barker Ranch dog park. (Gardner)
• Hire Pet Education Officer for a 6 month period, and possibly extend based on the results. (Gardner/Basile). I asked that the person be a Lake Forest resident. - $44,000
• Get more data on the cost effectiveness of reducing the fee on unaltered dogs. (Gardner/Voigts) If warranted, changes in fees can be introduced anytime.
• Inform OCAS that we are interested in pursuing multi-year licensing when they finally get it organized. (Gardner)

TRAFFIC/PARKING

• Hire Parking Enforcement Officer (Basile) - $185,000 (this price includes the vehicle costs in Year 1, and goes down in future years)
• Consider creating a parking lot on the lower level of Regency Park to support AYSO parking and help alleviate the parking problems on Osterman. (Gardner)
• Reduce the red lines along Osterman to allow for more parking. (Voigts)

MISC

• Look for a company to solicit grants for the city, paralleling our success with the sales tax recovery program.(Robinson)
• Eliminate every other Friday off policy and have the City open 5 days a week all year long. (Gardner/Basile) - $10,000 for new signage.
• Ask lawyer to opine on the ability of Council members to support individual charitable projects using discretionary funds (Basile)
• Assist Heritage Hill in their timeline project. (Basile/Gardner – Voigts abstained) - $3,000
• Expand “kindness cards” program to other city activities. (Hamilton) - $5,000
• Provide quarterly reports on the use of developer fees (Hamilton).

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 May 27 at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.