Report to the People

It’s my intention to provide a monthly report about what’s going on in the City from my perspective and what activities I am engaged in on your behalf. Report #1 covers the time since the election and up until assuming office last night.

INVOLVING THE PEOPLE

One of my main concerns is to involve more people in our local government.

Office Hours – Beginning Jan 1st I will be available from 2 pm to 5 pm every Tuesday for anyone who wants to drop in. If this is successful I will expand the hours.

Town Square – I set up a Facebook page called Lake Forest Town Square and already it is fully functioning and has 100+ members, all of whom are LF residents. They are providing extremely valuable input on issues facing the council as well as general issues (e.g., a community pool, what to do about coyotes). Please join. We need your help and involvement.

Meet and Listen – I started meeting with groups (e.g., Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce) to find out their concerns, and beginning Jan 1st I will expand these meetings to include HOAs and other groups. If you belong to a group, please ask them to invite me to come by and listen.

Mini Town Meetings – I am in the process of arranging for mini-town meetings in which you’ll get the opportunity to come by for lunch at a local restaurant and discuss issues that are coming up for Council decisions. More about this next month.

SPECIFIC ISSUES

Traffic – I’ve asked long time resident and citizen traffic guru Jim Richert to organize a Traffic Advisory Group. He’s working on the charter and we should be up and running by the first of the year. If you’re interested, please contact me.

Schools – I’ve asked Sonny Morper to organize a School advisory group to examine our current resources and the plans to integrate the new 5000+ children into the existing schools. We hope to work closely with SVUSD to insure that our quality of education does not suffer.

Put Lake Forest First – I’m putting together a group from the Chamber of Commerce, the City, and volunteers to examine the way that the City spends money and to try to funnel more of that money to local people and businesses. I’ve asked the City’s CFO to begin breaking out the spending so we can easily see how much money stays at home.

Village Pond Park – I put together an advisory group of local residents and Audubon members to provide input into the plans for the renovations of Village Pond Park. As we move along I will keep you posted.

Dog Park(s) – I’m in the process of creating an advisory group to work with the City on plans to build dog parks, including the small one slated for Bake Pkwy and others that are created. Bob Holtzclaw is helping on this project. Not only will this group help with the planning of the park, they can help with the operations of the park. If you’re interested, please contact me.

Infrastructure – I’ve asked Col. Tom Cagley to head an Advisory Group that will look at the global situation (e.g., water, electricity, land use) in Lake Forest to provide guidance on issues that will come before the Commissions.

NETWORKING

I attended the following meetings/events

• · Nov 8 – Kiwanis Tour d’Force
• · Nov 11 – Chamber of Commerce
• · Nov 14 – Kiwanis Breakfast
• · Nov 14 - Business Appreciation Luncheon
• · Nov 17 - Lake Forest Parade Committee meeting
• · Nov 19 - Planning Workshop for Portola Park
• · Nov 20 – Parks and Recreation Commission meeting
• · Nov 22 – League of Humane Voters

LEGISLATION

At the December 2 meeting the Council decided to

• · Elect Scott Voigts as Mayor
• · Elect Andrew Hamilton as Mayor Pro Tem
• · Establish the Administrative Citation Program making it easier to deal with building code violations.
• · Expand the current software program used by eLakeForest.
• · Postpone the new tree management service until Dec 16 meeting.
• · Consider the Wildlife Feeding Prohibition at a future meeting
• · Consider Prohibiting Companies with City contracts from contribution to political campaigns at a future meeting

Pictures of the swearing in ceremony are courtesy of Yombo Bakabila

MISCELLANEOUS

Official Portrait – Foothill Ranch resident and professional photographer Greg Porter graciously donated his services to do my official portrait, which will hang in the Council chambers. By donating his services Greg saved the City hundreds of dollars. Here is his website - http://www.gregporterphotography.com/

Ethics Training – The City requires it and suggested that Andrew Hamilton and I go to Sacramento to do a course. It would have cost the City $2500 for us to go, but we opted to enroll in a free course put on locally.

There are several other projects I’m working on but at this point it’s too soon to announce anything.

CONTACT

You can e-mail me at DrJGardner@gmail.com and you can discuss issues at the Facebook page Lake Forest Town Square.