Lake Forest - Birthplace of Great Ideas

The other day one of the members of the Chamber of Commerce was talking about her work trying to expand our “Grab and Go” program for First Responders to other cities, and she coined a slogan – “Lake Forest – Birthplace of Great Ideas”. So I got to thinking about all the new ideas that we’ve introduced this year. Here’s a brief list of some of the major ones in chronological order of implementation –

• iCouncil – broadcasting City Council meetings live on Facebook and allowing comments/questions. (Feb) PHOTO
• iCity – broadcasting important workshops, seminars, and events so all the residents can tune in, and creating online video summaries of important presentations. (Feb)
• New Greeter for City Council meetings – Particularly helpful for people who have never been to a meeting before. (Feb)
• Mayor’s Staff Award – a special award to the staff members who do outstanding work. (Approved Feb)
• Council takeaways – a summary of upcoming events along with a message from our Chamber of Commerce for everyone who attends a Council meeting. (Feb)
• New slide show for people waiting for City Council meetings – a slide show presentation about the city, our businesses, and our upcoming events is offered as people wait for the City Council meeting to begin. (Feb)
• Increased classes on safety for children. First one Feb 2018. Advanced class offered in April.
• Reviewed and updated responses to active shooter issues – March 2018.
• First Responders Support “Grab and Go” – Created by Michelle Tan and she’s got dozens of people helping her. Larissa Clark is her second in command. (March) PHOTO
• Council Committee Reports - all committees attended by Council members and their designees now require monthly reports to keep people informed. (March)
• Weekly “Mayor’s Minute” video – a weekly video updating residents about what’s happening and what’s going to happen. (March) PHOTO
• Mayor’s Councils – regular meetings with major stakeholders (e.g., HOAs in March, businesses in April) to optimize two-way communication. PHOTO
• City Manager Report– in keeping with our desire for transparency and for placing more information into more people’s hands, the City Manager now does a quarterly update on all major projects, and it’s a regular scheduled agenda item. (April)
• “Pop Up” City Halls – to expand our contact with residents. (April) PHOTO
• Mayor’s Volunteer Award – recognizing the leadership among our many volunteers in the City to help make this a great place to live. (May) PHOTO

There’s a lot more on tap and scheduled to come into existence in the next few months. Here are some of the coming attractions –

• Ethics Committee – Approved Feb 2018. Mayor Pro Tem Basile and Col. Cagley working with City Attorney. Expected Summer 2018.
• Traffic and Parking Commission – Approved Feb 2018. Expected to begin July 2018.
• Change way to appoint commissioners – Approved Mar 2018. Designed to prevent “gang” dominance of council processes.

In the past three months we’ve introduced more positive changes in the way that government works than was accomplished in any prior three years, and we’re not finished yet. To accomplish all these things has been a great effort on behalf of dozens of people including Communications, Police, City Clerk, and Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. 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 Twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. 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 May 17 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).