Postponing Decisions Part 2 - The Data

Yesterday I shared my Council Comments from the Dec 16 meeting in which I spoke about the dangers of postponements. For the past 2 years I have been taking notes at Council meetings. Here is my summary with regard to postponements -

• · There were more than two dozen separate postponements.
• · Postponements occurred at 40% of the Council meetings.
• · Some issues (e.g., PCN policy, wildlife feeding prohibition) still have not seen the light of day despite being raised more than a year ago.
• · Four issues (e.g., wildlife feeding prohibition, electronic devices, waste management, tree management) were postponed several times.

It’s difficult to say for certain why some issues were postponed, but in many cases the reason for postponement was obvious. The most common reasons were a flawed RFP process (e.g., waste management, tree management) or a complex issue (e.g., PCN process, 5 year strategic plan). But sometimes issues were postponed because a council member wasn’t present (e.g., use of electronic devices) or because a council member couldn’t make up their mind (e.g., wildlife feeding prohibition).

Going forward, it’s obvious that the RFP process needs to be overhauled. Although it may function adequately for many issues, on some major issues the process has broken down. Bear in mind that the waste management, tree management, and IT projects are all very large contracts and have very large impacts.

Here’s the data -

March 5, 2013

-Invocation. Staff to amend policy and bring back

April 2, 2013

· PCN/variance. Postponed

· Lobbying and grant funding. Postponed

April 16, 2013

· 5 year strategic plan discussion. Postponed

· Change to signage. Postponed

May 7, 2013

· Change to signage. Postponed again

May 21, 2013

· Item 18. Seasonal lighting proposal. Postponed

· Item 19. Waste management proposal Postponed.

June 18, 2013

· IT contract. Postponed.

Aug 6, 2013

· Appeal of U-Haul. Sent back to PC.

Sept 3, 2013

· Continued electronic device prohibition

Oct 1, 2013

· Reconsider Waste Management RFP

Oct 15, 2013

· Electronic devices postponed

Nov 5, 2013

· Wildlife feeding ordinance discussed and postponed

Nov 19, 2013

· Public hearing notices continued

· Wildlife feeding continued

Dec 3, 2013

· Continued election of Mayor

May 20, 2014

· Postponed shared parking ordinance.

August 5, 2014

· Postponed RFP for Normandale

Sept 2, 2014

· Postponed appeal of 99 Cent Stores #198 PRN

· Postponed appeal of 99 Cent Stores #327 PRN

Oct 7, 2014

· Rejected tree management RFPs. Decided to re-bid

Dec 2, 2014

· Postponed tree management contract

Dec 16, 2014

· Postponed Mobile Gas station appeal of PCN approval

· Postponed tree management contract

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.