Lake Forest - M.I.A.

In recent weeks we’ve talked about the absence of City officials from City events. For example –

· Francisco Barajas is on the Parks Commission but missed 20% of their meetings. He now holds the record for most meetings missed for anyone on any Commission or Council. Click Here to read about Barajas’ record.

· Scott Voigts, a Council member, missed 22% of the meetings of Vector Control (he’s the City representative) and was found to skip out on another 56% right after roll call, when he collects his $100 fee. Click Here to read about Voigts Record.

· Andy Hamilton, the Mayor, is rarely seen at any City events. Click Here to read about Hamilton’s Record.

BTW – the errant Francisco Barajas is now running for a seat on the City Council. Given the performance of Hamilton and Voigts, he will be at home there. OTOH, Councilman Nick and I have 100% attendance, so he might feel ill at ease with us.

Putting this in context, the City just celebrated our 25th anniversary with a “Family Carnival”. I attended for most of the time and toured the entire event several times. Here’s a list of who I didn’t see –

• · The City Manager
• · The Assistant City Manager
• · The City Attorney
• · The Director of Planning
• · The Director of Public Works

What kind of a city celebration is it when the City Manager and Assistant City Manager don’t attend? I realize they don’t live in Lake Forest, but surely, one or both would make it.

I was also disappointed that I didn’t see any former City Council members. That includes

• · Kathryn McCullough
• · Dave Bass
• · Peter Herzog
• · Mark Tettemer
• · Helen Wilson

Bear in mind I was only there for a few hours and only toured the place several times, so it is possible that someone was there and I missed them. Before writing this piece I did check with several people to see if they saw anyone of the people listed above, and they also didn’t see them.

On a positive note, I did see

• · Councilman Nick
• · Councilman Voigts
• · Councilman Robinson with his son
• · Parks Commissioner Jim Rosenberg
• · City Council candidate Leah Basile with her family
• · Director of Finance Neves
• · Director of Community Services Wasserman
• · Police Chief Valentine
• · Kiwanis in-coming President Stan Yombo
• · USMC Committee member Col. Tom Cagley

I’m told the Mayor was there late. I’m also told that Francisco Barajas was standing on the street with a large banner promoting his candidacy, but I didn’t see him at the event.

There is no requirement that City staff or elected or appointed officials attend City events. You’d like to think that they do, and some people are really excellent about attending. I believe I attend more than anyone else, so I have a pretty good idea who the people are who attend. So let’s have a big cheer for

• · Parks Commissioner Jim Rosenberg
• · Parks Commissioner Loretta Herrin
• · Parks Commissioner Victor Scherr
• · Kiwanis in-coming President Stan Yombo
• · USMC Coordinator Col. Tom Cagley
• · Community Services Director Scott Wasserman
• · City Council candidate Leah Basile

These people exemplify the community spirit.

As a group I also want to commend

• · Soroptimists
• · Kiwanis
• · Chamber of Commerce

These three groups, over 100 people combined, volunteer at City events and help make out City a better place to live in.

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 November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.