Here are some items on the horizon...
PET ADOPTION CENTER OPENS
Lake Forest’s Pet Adoption Center will open its doors on April 24 at 5:30 pm. The location is in the Albertson’s Shopping Center at 24331 Muirlands.
KIWANIS EARTH DAY NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
Kiwanis hopes to put 650 plants in the ground around Serrano Park. Please come by and help. The event will be on April 22 beginning at 7:30 am.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
SPECIAL NEEDS RESOURCE FAIR
Our 2nd annual Special Needs Resource Fair will take place on April 29 at the Sports Park from 9 am to 12 pm. Last years' event was remarkable and this year should be even better. In the past 2 years we have expanded our services for people with special needs and this month's issue of Parenting OC Magazine has an article about our work in this area. For more information on this program Click Here
POLICE BUDGET INCREASE PROPOSED
According to City staff, OCSD is proposing a 9.7% increase in the police contract, an equivalent of $1.5 million per year. I'll keep you posted on how negotiations go. BTW - if you recall, last year when they raised us by over $1 million, Councilman Adam Nick and I argued that we needed to get some competitive bids or we would face continued increases. The Gang of 3 shot the proposal down. They didn't want to even consider getting a competitive bid. If we are going to be faced with a monopolistic situation in which OCSD is the only game in town, they are free to continue raising our contract costs, and due to their unfunded pension liabilities these increases are inevitable. At some point this will cut into our ability to maintain city services. This has already happened in other cities.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
BTW - The Police Union ponied up $10,000 to support the Gang of 3 in the recall effort, and the Supervisors endorsed Robinson in the election. That was their "payment" for services rendered.
IMO Public Safety is our #1 duty as a city, and we need to be getting the highest quality service at the best possible price. But we should not be held captive to any monopoly and only by doing our due diligence can we be true to the citizens. If OCSD is the best police force we can get at the best price, then we should continue with them. But we should seek competitive bids just as we do with virtually every other contract especially when you consider that OCSD is our largest contract and consumes nearly 40% of our budget.
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.
