Report to the People - January 2015

Happy New Year.

If you haven’t already done so, go to City Hall and get yourself a copy of our excellent 2015 Calendar with pictures of our local parks taken by residents..

Here’s my report from my first month in office. It’s Report #2 because Report #1 covered the time since the election and up until assuming office. You can find Report #1 on the Facebook page - Lake Forest Town Square.

Please note – this report does not reflect official City policy.

INVOLVING PEOPLE

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

Office hours start on Tuesday January 6 from 2 pm to 5 pm, and will continue every Tuesday for anyone who wants to drop in. If this is successful we will expand the hours. You’ll find me on the first floor. Inquire at the Clerk’s office.

Town Square – I set up a Facebook page called Lake Forest Town Square and already it is fully functioning and has 140+ members, all of whom are LF residents or business owners. They are providing extremely valuable input on issues facing the council as well as general issues. 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 – We’ll start our first mini-Town Meeting on January 16th at Outback Steak House in Foothill Ranch, from 1:30 to 3:30. The Council agenda for the following Tuesday (Jan 20) will come out on Thursday (Jan 15), so you can preview the agenda and then come to the meeting and give me your opinions about the issues that will come up at the meeting. This is our chance to discuss issues in a forum that allows for more give-and-take compared to the formal environment at City Hall.

SPECIFIC ISSUES

Put Lake Forest First – I put together a group from the Chamber of Commerce and the City to examine the way that the City spends money and to try to funnel more of that money to local people and businesses. We just identified a few business opportunities and I’ll be writing about that in the near future.

Village Pond Park – I got consensus to put the feeding prohibition ordinance on the Council agenda, so we are waiting for staff to bring it back.

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.

A dog park will be one of the topics for discussion at the Whispering Hills workshop that will be held on January 31.

Land Use – Slowly but surely I have been getting the City to provide a picture of all the land which the City holds. Land use decisions (e.g., dog park, community garden, community pool, etc.) are being made in isolation without any consideration for what we have in our inventory. With a complete picture of all the land we hold we will be able to make better decisions.

NETWORKING

I attended the following meetings/events

· Dec 3 – Business Signage Workshop

· Dec 4 – STARS award and Xmas Party

· Dec 5 – Kiwanis

· Dec 6 – Heritage Hill Victorian Christmas

· Dec 8 – Meeting with Village Pond Park Contractor

· Dec 9 – Meeting with Chamber of Commerce President

· Dec 10 – Chamber of Commerce

· Dec 11 – Association of Orange County Elected City Officials

· Dec 12 - Kiwanis

· Dec 17 – Meeting with Traffic Advisory Group

· Dec 19 – Meeting with AgeWell Senior Services

LEGISLATION

At the December 16 meeting the Council postponed a decision on the appeal of the Mobile gas station license to sell beer and wine and also did not bring back the postponed decision for tree management, an item postponed from the Dec 2 agenda. This practice of postponing decisions is not acceptable. I spoke out at the Council meeting and published my comments. Click here.

In December the Council voted unanimously on all issues, with the following exceptions –

• · Scott Voigts as Mayor – 4:1 (I opposed and voted for Andrew Hamilton)
• · Delay decision on tree trimming – 4:1 (I opposed and wanted to vote)
• · Delay decision on Mobile PCN – 2:1 (Robinson opposed, Nick and I recused ourselves)

BTW – Mayor Pro Tem Adam Nick recused himself from the Mobile station vote because the owner was a friend of his. Kudos to Mr. Nick for paying attention to our code of ethics. As far as I can remember, council members have been voting for their friends and campaign contributors, and this is the first time I recall anyone recusing himself.

Tomorrow I will conclude with Part 2 of this report.

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