Council Preview for March 7 - Part 1

Tuesday night’s meeting will begin with a closed session talk about the recruitment for the new City Manager. Following that there are a few items of interest -

VILLAGE POND PARK

After years of inaction, the City is finally coming around to approving the bids to re-model Village Pond Park (VPP). Events surrounding VPP are among the most disgraceful episodes in the City’s history, and even now the Park has been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that it resembles more a lake than a park.

Thanks to former Councilman Nick we are finally getting around to the bid process. We have bids ranging from $2.1 to $3.5 million, and staff is recommending we accept the bid for $2,102,679.43. If accepted the park would be closed by installing a fence around the perimeter.

The City retained the services of AquaBio Environmental Technologies, to supervise the draining of the pond and relocate turtles, fish, and domestic waterfowl. The turtles will be assessed and placed in holding area pens during the relocation process. Those that are deemed healthy will be transported to a local rescue group or a pet wholesaler for placement back into the pet industry. Local rescue groups that wish to adopt turtles removed from the pond will have first priority. Similarly, Aquabio’s biologist will identify, assess, and relocate domestic waterfowl to a rescue center or rehabilitation center for adoption. Procedures for handling waterfowl, fish, and other wildlife will be performed in accordance with guidelines provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

OVERNIGHT PARKING

As part of the City’s new plans to deal with parking problems in residential areas, an ordinance will be considered to prohibit overnight parking of vehicles with attached trailers and all unattended commercial tractor-trailer vehicles citywide.

The proposed code amendments would not preclude overnight parking of vehicles associated with ongoing residential work, such as home or landscape improvements, subject to an approved permit, or other contractors from parking a vehicle on a public street for a temporary period of time for regular maintenance or emergency repairs. Additionally, the suggested changes would not preclude the standing of a recreational trailer on the public street overnight for the purposes of loading and unloading. Moreover, a resident that operates a business and utilizes a truck in conjunction with a trailer would not be prevented from storing the trailer on their private property.

This will be one small step further to solving our parking problems in the City. Though this is not a problem everywhere, it is a problem in some neighborhoods, and the ordinance will help the situation.

MID YEAR BUDGET REVIEW

The proposed Mid-Year Budget Review would increase General Fund revenues by $2,901,900 and increase expenditures by $1,653,300. The good news in Fiscal Year 2016-17 is that revenues, in most cases, are increasing as the local economy continues to grow.

Here are the estimated fund balances as of June 20, 2017

• General Fund - $22,737,000
• Capital Funds - $74, 031,400
• Reserve Funds - $24,361,700

While this looks impressive, bear in mind that the Civic Center is estimated to cost in excess of $60,000,000 and park updates will probably come in at $10,000,000.

Some of the mid year increases in costs are for

• Recruiting new City Manager – $28,500
• City Manager - $90,000 (includes paying out unused sick and vacation balances of retired City Manager Dunek
• Videos to market city businesses - $25,000
• Reduced license fees for dogs - $67,000
• New contract increases with Police - $275,000

Tomorrow we’ll look at CDBG grants and Council compensation.

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 May.