Police, Pets, and Beer Move Forward

In a marathon meeting last night that ended just before midnight, the City Council dealt with 3 issues

• · An appeal of the Planning Commission decision to allow another store to sell beer and alcohol.
• · The contract with the OC Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) and whether or not the City should establish an ad hoc committee to explore alternatives. (Click Here)
• · The City’s response to the OC Grand Jury report about the OC animal shelter and a discussion about animal care in general, with the possibility of working with neighboring cities to establish our own multi-city shelter. (Click Here)

SELLING BEER AND WINE

After a lengthy discussion, the applicant proved to the satisfaction of all the Council members that he met the criteria to constitute a “public convenience”. On a 5 to 0 vote the Council upheld the decision of the Planning Commission.

OCSD CONTRACT

After a lengthy discussion, the Council voted 5 to 0 to sign the contract with the OCSD.

Unfortunately, the Council voted 3 to2 not to pursue exploring any alternatives to police services, so that future contracts could be evaluated against other options.

ANIMAL CARE

After a lengthy discussion, the Council voted 4 to 0 to respond to the Grand Jury recommendation using the language from the RSM response adopted 2 weeks earlier. It says –

“The City has and will continue to review and evaluate its long-term commitment to Orange County Animal Care…In the interim, the City will continue to explore feasible, cost effective options as opposed to any further commitment to remain associated with the OCAC.”

The language didn’t make much sense since the City has not been exploring any alternatives in the past few years.

Following this, the Council voted 4 to 0 to adopt the language from the Laguna Hills City Council, asking the staff to work together with other cities to explore opportunities.

For a more thorough analysis, Click Here.

COUNCIL BEHAVIOR

The actual votes made by the Council were only part of the story last night. Many people found their behavior even more fascinating. Click Here for more information.

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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