Report to the People - Feb 2016

This report covers the period from January 1 to 31. It represents the views of Councilman Gardner and does not reflect official City policy. These reports are produced monthly. Past copies are available on request.

UNCENSURED

For the past few months the City Attorney has been censoring the reports I asked the City Clerk to distribute at Council meetings. This caused a great deal of extra work for me, writing essentially two different reports, one for general distribution and the other to meet the standards set by the City Attorney. In addition, the extra time being spent by the City Attorney to censure my reports, following complaints by my colleagues, was being charged to the City and hence to the taxpayers. Hence I decided to forego involving the City Clerk and the City Attorney and will produce only one report, this one.

INVOLVING PEOPLE

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

Office hours are every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm. Inquire at the Clerk’s office. Occasionally things change, so be sure to check first.

Town Square – Lake Forest Town Square has over 440 members, providing valuable input on issues facing the council as well as general issues. Please join.

Listen and Learn – To date I’ve met with nearly a dozen groups around the City. If you have a group and want to share your concerns, e-mail me and let’s get together.

Mini Town Hall Meetings – Next meeting - Sat. Mar 26, 2 to 4 pm, at Foothill Ranch Library.

SPECIFIC ISSUES

Backlog on City Issues – I recently posted an article listing more than a dozen issues that are back logged, some of which have been languishing for nearly a year. These issues have important financial consequences as well as quality of life implications. Under old Councils, years could go by before issues that had been discussed came back for action. This is not acceptable. Doing a better job is essential, and having a better system by which issues can reach the agenda is a major way for us to do a better job.

Village Pond Park – We are still waiting for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the wildlife feeding prohibition ordinance ordered by the Council on March 3, 2015 – nearly a year ago! Hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved if we can avoid suggested changes that are no longer needed, but we will know this only if we look at the evaluation.

Seniors – Even though my colleagues (Voigts, Robinson, Hamilton) voted against helping “Meals on Wheels” feed nearly 100 Lake Forest residents, I continue to work with Age Well Senior Services to look for a place in the City where they can operate from. If you have a place, please let me know. Click Here for more info.

Reclaimed Water – Col. Tom Cagley, Bob Holtzclaw, and I have been working to bring reclaimed water to Lake 1 and Lake 2 and also Village Pond Park. The IRWD has been working with the State to make this happen, and they told us we should have expected some decision by the end of December. We didn’t. I will continue to pursue.

Animal Services – My colleagues (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson) ordered the staff to stop looking for alternatives to using the high kill County shelter, but with a few dedicated people we have continued to look. I put an alternative plan before the Council on Feb 2, well in advance of the County’s deadline for us to sign-up and give them nearly $1,000,000 to continue to get poor service, poor care, and high kill rates. I got a unanimous approval to have the staff check my assumptions and calculations, however, my request to have their report back to us in 2 weeks was denied by the City Manager.. We will get the staff assessment back in March and hopefully there will be time to address all concerns and to adopt an alternate to using OC Animal Shelter. Click Here for a description of the proposal.

I also intend to push for an Animal Welfare Commission so we can improve services and cut costs, and I got approval for Staff to prepare a proposal for a City sponsored Pet Day.

Crime – I got approval for Staff and Police Services to come up with the best way to advise people on crime in the City. We want to use the existing resources and possibly develop new ones with the goal of increasing information available to the public and using this information to prevent crime. A plan will come back to us prior to the budget workshop. Meantime the latest statistics show that major crime in Lake Forest rose 29% in 2015 compared to 2014. The biggest increases were in stolen vehicles (45%), larceny/theft (39%), and robbery (28%). Thankfully, rape was down 30%. There were 228 more crimes in 2015 than in 2014. Click Here to view for yourself.

RECALL

I am trying my best to stay out of the recall, but my colleagues continue to spread lies about me. Here are links to the articles I wrote about their lies.

http://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/more-dirty-tricks-gang-3

http://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/gang-strikes-back

I am also disappointed in their defense, which is basically no defense, but instead a vicious attack of Councilman Adam Nick. See below.

http://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/nick-nuts-part-3-summing

It’s clear to me that the recall supporters are correct in all their allegations about the “Gang of 3”. Whether or not this constitutes a reason to recall them must be left to each person to decide. Certainly people have been successfully recalled for lesser reasons.

Part of the discussion about the recall centers on the cost of the recall, which was estimated by City staff at between $180K and $220K but which the “Gang of 3” says is $250K. I would hope that if the recall supporters manage to get the required verified signatures (7,882) or even more, then Andy Hamilton and Scott Voigts would do the right thing and resign. They only got some 6,000+ votes to get into office, and with 8,000+ people asking them to leave, they should realize that they lost whatever mandate they had. If they do the right thing and resign, I would also hope that the recall supporters would cancel the recall election and save the City the expense. That means Dwight Robinson would be allowed to finish his term and then meet the voters in November. This would be the best thing for the City, but it requires both the “Gang of 3” and the recall supporters to put the interests of the City above their own interests.

NETWORKING

Last month I attended the following meetings/events. Click on the links to see coverage in The Patch of various events.

· Jan 5 – Office Hours

· Jan 5 - City Council Meeting

· Jan 7 – OC Library Committee

· Jan 8 – Kiwanis

· Jan 12 – Office Hours

· Jan 13 – New Business Reception

· Jan 13 – Soroptimists meeting

· Jan 15 - Lake Forest Garden Club

· Jan 14 – Planning Commission

· Jan 15 – Kiwanis

· Jan 19 – Office Hours

· Jan 19 - City Council Meeting

· Jan 20 – Chamber of Commerce Mixer

· Jan 21 – Parks and Recreation Commission

· Jan 22 – Grand opening - ServPro

· Jan 23 – Snowfest

· Jan 25 – Marine Support Committee at Biaggio’s Restaurant

· Jan 26 – Office Hours

· Jan 27 – Ribbon Cutting – HR Block

· Jan 28 – Soroptimists “Make a Blanket” event

· Jan 29 – Ribbon Cutting – Tropical Smoothie

· Jan 30 – Town Hall Meeting

LEGISLATION

Last month the Council voted unanimously on all issues, except –

· Appoint Scott Voigts to TCA (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson)

· Appoint Scott Voigts to Vector Control (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson)

· Approve Meritage development (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson)

· Allow Meritage not to build affordable homes (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Most of the events are FREE but some may charge admission.

· Feb 2 – Office Hours (4 to 6 pm – City Hall )

· Feb 2 - City Council Meeting (7 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 5 – Kiwanis (7:15 to 8:15 – Mimi’s Café)

· Feb 5 – South County Economic Coalition (11:30 – 1:30)

· Feb 8 – 4th July Committee (6 pm - Sports Center)

· Feb 8 – Free Tax Preparation for Seniors (9:30 am – 1:00 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 9 – Office Hours (4 to 6 pm – City Hall )

· Feb 11 – El Toro Water District (11:30 – 1:30)

· Feb 11 – Planning Commission (7 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 11 – City Leader Reception (5:30 pm)

· Feb 12 – Kiwanis (7:15 to 8:15 – Mimi’s Café)

· Feb 12 – Supervisor Bartlett Legislative Roundtable (9:00 – 11:00)

· Feb 13 – Special Needs Dance (6 to 8 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 16 – Office Hours (4 to 6 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 16 - City Council Meeting (7 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 17 – Town Hall with Mimi Walters (5:30 – 7:00 pm)

· Feb 18 – Parks and Recreation Commission (7 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 19 – Kiwanis (7:15 to 8:15 – Mimi’s Café)

· Feb 19 – Hotel Roundtable (9 am – City Hall)

· Feb 19 – OC Leaders Prayer Breakfast (7:30 am)

· Feb 19 –Improv Jam at Modjeska Playhouse (8 pm)

· Feb 20 – Free spay and neuter for all adopted pets at OC Animal Shelter

· Feb 23 – Office Hours (4 to 6 pm – City Hall)

· Feb 23 – Traffic Advisory Group (7 pm City Hall)

· Feb 24 – Meet the Mayor (5 to 7 pm)

· Feb 25 – Deadline for submitting nominations for Senior Volunteer Award

· Feb 25 and 26 – Fund Raiser for US Marine Support Committee at Cuca’s Mexican Food (11 am to 9 pm)

· Feb 26 – Kiwanis (7:15 to 8:15 – Mimi’s Café)

· Feb 27 – Eagle Scout Court of Honor (6 pm – Murray Center)

· Mar 1 – Office Hours (4 to 6 pm – City Hall)

· Mar 1 - City Council Meeting (7 pm – City Hall)

· Mar 9 – “Video Marketing Success Secrets” (5 to 8 pm, City Hall)

· Mar 11 - “I Ought to Be in Pictures” at Modjeska Playhouse

CONTACT

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

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