Council Preview for Jan 17

At the last City Council meeting I suggested a “Resident’s Bill of Rights” to protect residents against unwarranted abuse by Council members, given the tumultuous history of the past two years under Mayors Voigts and Hamilton (Click here).

This week I will formally propose the following -

THE RESIDENT’S BILL OF RIGHTS

• Residents are entitled to make public comments without giving their name and/or address. No resident should be forced to provide their name or address, although it is helpful when they do, because it lets us know whether or not they are a resident. But no one should be compelled to give their name and/or address. Insistence that they do so violates the Brown Act.
• Residents should not be cut off immediately when the red light comes on after 3 minutes. They should be allowed to finish their sentence.
• Residents should not be subjected to argumentative comments from the dais when they cannot reply without threat of being ejected from the meeting.
• All residents are entitled to the same treatment whether they are making positive or critical comments.
• When residents speak, Council members should show them the courtesy of listening and looking at them.
• Council members should not be having private discussions while on the dais.
• If a resident asks a question, he/she is entitled to a reply.
• If a resident submits written material prior to a Council meeting, each Council member should read the material beforehand.
• The City Manager (or designee) will follow-up any legitimate question or inquiry, and report back to the Council in the weekly update until that problem is considered resolved by a majority of the Council.

PLANNING COMMISSION

There are 3 openings on the Planning Commission. Here is a brief summary of the applicants -

Mark Armando serves on the Planning Commission and is a former Police Officer. He serves on the Board of Concord Crossing HOA. He has a BA in Vocational Education.

Dave Carter is a former Planning Commissioner. He is active in the Kiwanis and the Chamber of Commerce and is the leading force behind creating the Lake Forest Boys and Girls Club. He’s lived in Lake Forest for 32 years and serves as Treasurer of San Rita Ridge HOA. He was named as one of the top 100 influential people in Orange County by the OC Register.

Jolene Fuentes serves as a Planning Commissioner and is Vice President on the Board of Lake 2 HOA. She has a BA in Communications.

Jeff Matthews previously lived in Costa Mesa where he served as a Parks Commissioner and later a Planning Commissioner and was Chairman of the Homeless Task Force (2010-11). He has two children who attend ETHS. He has an MBA and works in asset management.

Peter Meyers is a commercial banker.

Barry Rosenberg is retired. He worked in marketing. He has a BFA in advertising. He lived in Lake Forest for 35 years and is a graduate of the Leadership Academy.

Fahr Semnani is a 14 year resident and is involved in commercial real estate. He has a BS in Health Physics and lives in Portola Hills. He graduated from the Leadership Academy.

Stan Yombo is General Manager of one of our local hotels. He is the President of the Lake Forest Kiwanis Club and is on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce. Stan is active in local nonprofits (e.g., Soroptimists, Relay for Life).

The City's Code of Ethics states that "Each member of the City Council, commissions, and committee, has a duty to...Safeguard ability to make independent, objective, fair and impartial judgments by scrupulously avoiding financial and social relationships and transactions that may compromise, or give the appearance of compromising, objectivity, independence, and honesty" (Section 2.3, Conduct in Office).

Because of this section of the code, at my request, the candidates were asked if they had any social relationships with any of the Council members and if they had contributed to any campaigns.

Jolene Fuentes said she had endorsed Voigts, Robinson, and Hamilton and believed that she "wrote nominal checks to all three ($100 or less) in the past five years."

Jeff Matthews indicated social ties to Mayor Voigts and also financial contributions to Voigts' campaigns. (According to my records he made a payment of $250 to Voigts in 2014).

All the other candidates indicated they had no social or financial ties.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the pet issues that are on the agenda.

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.