Is "Fiscal Conservatism" Dead in Lake Forest?

In a State known for Haight-Asbury and Berkeley, Orange County has always been an anomaly. In what is otherwise a liberal State, Orange County has been a bastion of conservative views. As a result, almost anyone who wants to be elected emphasizes their “conservative” values and beliefs, and the words “fiscal conservative” are emphasized even more.

While there are many definitions of fiscal conservatism, all of them agree that “modern fiscal conservatives remain wary of government spending.”

Here in Lake Forest, three of our current Council members claim to be “fiscal conservatives” and often emphasize their conservative beliefs – Scott Voigts, Dwight Robinson, and Andrew Hamilton. The other two, me included, make no secret of our orientation but don’t wave it as conspicuously.

In this series I want to explore whether or not the voting pattern of my colleagues is consistent with their self-labeling as a “fiscal conservative”. My investigation was prompted by their recent vote to refuse to look at alternatives to the City’s largest single expense, the contract with OCSD.

SPENDING MONEY WISELY

Before I was elected to the Council in November 2014, I had questioned some of the “fiscal conservative” actions of the previous Council, which included Voigts, Robinson, and Nick. I wondered how “fiscal conservatives” could vote to give Council and Commission members’ expensive iPads, or vote to spend $10,000 per year making it easier for Council and Commission members to file their mandatory State reports.

Why should we spend tens of thousands of dollars to make life easier for our elected/ appointed officials? Personally I am capable of performing my acts on the Council without either an expensive tablet or using the electronic reporting system. This money could be saved and used for better purposes.

In addition to these perks, I found it annoying that Council members were spending thousands of dollars on “travel” expenses. I’ve been on the Council for 8 months, traveled probably more than any of my colleagues, and it hasn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. My travel expenses can be taken off my individual taxes, so why burden the City with the costs? Even when I travel outside the City or the region I absorb the costs myself.

I found it equally disturbing when the City Manager was given a bonus. After all, the City Manager’s compensation package exceeds $300,000 and for the job he is doing, I think that’s more than enough compensation. Yet my colleagues, Councilman Robinson excepted in this case, took $10,000 of taxpayer money and gave it to the City Manager who was already being highly compensated. BTW - I’ll have a lot more to say on this topic next week.

So these patterns of spending confused me. Where were the “fiscal conservatives” who promoted themselves so vigorously?

COMPETITIVE BIDDING

One of the hallmarks of true fiscal conservatism is the desire to have plenty of bids so that taxpayers spend the least amount to get the services they need. I found it puzzling how two of these Council members (Voigts and Robinson) could be satisfied when we had only 2 bids on the waste management contract, one of the most expensive contracts the City has, and certainly the one that lasts the longest. I also found it strange when, more than a year ago, I asked the Council to get other bids on the Police contract, and only Councilman Nick supported the idea. These actions just didn’t resonate with my idea of what a “fiscal conservative” should be doing.

VILLAGE POND PARK

If these weren’t sufficient red flags that something might “be rotten in Denmark”, I was disturbed by my unsuccessful efforts prior to 2015 to get the Council to move forward on the Village Pond Park (VPP) wildlife feeding prohibition ordinance . I argued back then that the problems in VPP were due to the over-feeding by humans, and before we spent a whole lot of money on planning for and re-modeling the park, we should put up a few hundred dollars’ worth of signs and see what the impact of this was on the filth that littered VPP. I got no sympathy from the Council who went ahead and spent nearly $300,000 just planning for how to re-model VPP, and who set aside another $1,000,000 for the actual construction.

It may be true that VPP was due for renovation anyway, but many aspects of the planning and many aspects of the proposed construction were aimed at reduction of the feeding. Why on Earth would we not try to solve that problem as easily and inexpensively as possible before devoting hundreds of thousands of dollars to something that could be solved for a few thousands?

So that is the background to my joining the Council. I heard the chants of the City Council members that they were “fiscal conservatives” yet I looked at what they were doing and I couldn’t match their words with their actions.

Tomorrow we’ll look more closely at the voting patterns in 2015.

COMMENTS

It came to my attention that at times the COMMENTS section of the Patch doesn’t work. I have no control over this. I can neither enable or disabled the Comments section nor can I delete or edit other people’s work. If you encounter this problem, please notify the Patch. If you want to discuss the issues raised in these articles you’re welcome to join nearly 300 of us at Lake Forest Town Square, or you can e-mail me individually, come to my office hours, or attend my Town hall meetings.

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 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

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