Council Preview for August 19. Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the City staff report on the traffic forums. We reported that 134 of the 136 comments were negative, and only 2 of 39 people had anything positive to say about the City’s handling of the traffic problems.

Today we’ll look at 3 more items coming up tonight.

ANNUAL REVIEW OF DEVELOPER AGREEMENTS (Item #18)

This is the time of the year when the City Council looks at the Developer Agreements and tries to see how much money that can glean from the Developers to fund their upcoming election campaigns. Money from developers, construction companies, consulting companies that work in the development industry, building industry PACs, etc. are the single largest contributors to City Council election campaigns. In fact, they have contributed more money to City Council members than all other groups combined. And for their generosity, the City Council and the Planning Commission have never met a Developer Agreement they didn’t like, even if they had to change the rules in mid-stream and go against the nearly unanimous wishes of the people.

SPEED LIMITS ON RANCHO PARKWAY SOUTH (Item 22)

The City wants to post a speed limit of 40 MPH on the section of Rancho Pkwy that was recently completed. That seems a little low given the way I see people driving in that area. That makes it a lot more likely to get a speeding ticket.

The City’s study done in June 2014 shows the 85th percentile to be 44.5 MPH, and the 85th percentile is the norm for setting speed limits. According to the standard, “the speed should be set at the nearest 5 MPH increment to the 85th percentile speed”. By my reckoning, 45 mph is closer to 44.5 than 40 is. But maybe I’m wrong.

CITY COUNCIL WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (Item 23)

Mayor Robinson is worried about retaining his e-mails for posterity, so the City has hired Method Technologies to develop a system to save, sort, and recover e-mails. Looks like Robinson is anticipating a law suit and discovery of some of his e-mails.

Looking at the City’s “Written Communication Policy, it looks like Scott Voigts, in campaign literature designed to raise money, when he used the title “Mayor of Lake Forest” was not merely lying, but also violating the City’s policy. I would refer this apparent illegal act to Mr. Dunek, the City Manager, but he has already told me, in writing no less, that illegal acts by Council members are none of his concern. He is being advised by the City’s attorney, Scott Smith, who is from the law firm of BB&K. For those of you who don’t recognize the name, BB&K is the same law firm who advised the City of Bell. And we all know what happened there.

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