08/25/09 Laguna Hills City Council Meeting
All city council members were present.
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PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS - New Fire Chief appointed for Orange County Fire Authority - According to the City Staff report Chief Keith Richter comes from the Contra Costa County Fire District where he's been Chief since 1998. He has 30 years experience in fire service. He started in 1977 in the Tucson AZ. Fire Dept and served there for 21 years. He has a master of Science degree in Fire Administration and is a graduate of Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Welcome Chief Richter!

2 Awards for service for City of Laguna Hills employees - Judy Baker, Administrative Assistant II and Todd Holmes, Community Services Coordinator. Both have 10 years of service to the city, so are recognized with Certificate and a pencil and pen set according to the extended agenda report but we noted last night that they both appeared to have received small clocks. 5 years experience is recognized with a Certificate of Recognition.
We wonder how many years of service one has to put in to get the $50,000 Toyota???

Recognition of Lisa Mc Corkell as the new Student Liaison for Laguna Hills High School for the Fall Semester of 2009. The backup Liaison is Jason Brower.

PUBLIC COMMENTS - Mr. Jay Agatoni (name spelling uncertain) stated that he fenced his property in Nellie Gail after paying for a service to identify his property lines but has since learned that his fence encroached on city property about 5 feet on one side and 20 feet on another. He said he needed the approx. 5 foot high chain link fence to protect his dogs and children from coyotes and noted that he spent thousands of dollars to landscape the area to disguise the fencing. He asked the city council to allow him to leave his fence in place.

Mayor Joel Lautenschleger and Ken Rosenfield - Director of Public Services and City Engineer both explained to Mr. Agatoni why it is city policy not to allow encroachment by private citizens into city land and City Council Member Melody Carruth added that a 5 foot fence cannot protect a yard from coyotes. Mr. Agatoni was referred back to Ken Rosenfield for further discussion re. how to correct this problem.

LHHS Student Liaison Report - from Lisa Mc Corkell - Nothing tonight

Consent Calendar (**The Consent Calendar consists of multiple items on which the city council votes as a whole unless an item is pulled from the calendar for individual consideration)
The Consent Calendar included a Warrant Register for $2,401,918.52. This amount includes the purchase of a $50,000 Toyota from Tustin Toyota in July 2009 with no information related to the reason for this purchase, who will be using the car or the make, year, model of the car, etc. The Laguna Hills Watch Dog has requested information about this car purchase from the City Clerk. Law enforcement services were a large part of the expense listed as $532,622.50 in July and again in August. There were additional payments for engineering and landscape totaling $94,415.58 for the El Toro Median Island and payments totaling $18,119.72 for Training, travel, vehicle fuel, program and operating supplies for city staff.

Consent Calendar Item 4.5 includes a report that the 1/2 Marathon on May 25, 2009 had approx. 2,700 runners, with no mention of how many from Laguna Hills. It shows that expenses for this event totaled $138,445.00 and revenues were $126,817.00, so there was a loss of $11,682.00 for the City's General Fund. Despite this loss and a history of losses for this event the city staff is requesting a 2 year contract for 2010 and 2011 with Renegade Racing, the company who organized the 2009 event.

Consent Calendar Item 4.6 includes a report on the City's July 4th Celebration. This was another loss for the city. The total expenditure was quoted to be $47,447.00, the fireworks display cost was reported to $21,450.00 and the ticket sales were reported as $3,200.00.

Consent Calendar Item 4.9 is a change in the speed limits:
1. Avenida de la Carlotta- between Paseo de Valencia and Ridge Route - the new speed here will be 40 MPH
2. on Paseo de Valencia between Avenida de la Carlota and El Toro Rd. the new speed limit will be 35 MPH.

These Consent Calendar Items were all passed.

Items Removed from the Consent Calendar - 4.2, 4.4, 4.7 and 4.10
Item 4.2 (the warrant register) included a payment to a client of City Council member Craig Scott who is an attorney. He had to be recused from voting on an issue that affected his client. This was passed by the other city council members.
Item 4.4 was the Adoption of a Zoning Text Map Ordinance Amendments to Implement the Comprehensive General Plan Update (this refers to the New General Plan for the City)
This will be changing the zoning designation on approx. 40.4 acres located near the intersection of Alicia Pkwy. and Paseo de Alicia from Mixed Use and Community Commercial to Neighborhood Mixed Use. Also to change the zoning designation on approx. 39 acres located in the Via Lomas area from Medium Low Density to Planned Community Residential. Also a change in the zoning designation of approx. 2.27 acres located near the intersection of Moulton Pkwy. and La Paz Rd. from Open Space to Community Commercial.
Item 4.7 is the recommendation that the City Council Approve joining the (OCCOG) Orange County Council of Governments. Laguna Hills would be one of the already 40 members. This group is reported to assist cities with a myriad of state and regional concerns as well as contributing a coordinated Orange County voice when confronting issues such as Housing Needs Assessment Allocations, the 2012 Regional Transportation Plan and SB 375 that mandates land use and transportation planning be integrated and accomplished with a frame work of air quality and green gas emission reductions. The population of Laguna Hills is listed here as 33,412 in 2008.
Item 4.10 was said to have been placed under the Consent Calendar in error -
It is a membership agreement for the City of Laguna Hills to join (SCAG) Southern California Association of Governments. As the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Association of Governments is mandated by the federal government to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality. Additional mandates exist at the state level. SCASG was formed in 1965. ** It has long been the position of the Laguna Hills Watch Dog that the Laguna Hills City Council should have joined this group many years ago. The annual dues are reported to be $2,711.59. The designate appointed to this group was City Council Member Allan Songstad. The appointed alternate to the SCAG General Assembly was City Council Member Randall Bressette.

These Consent Calendar Items were all passed.

City Council Public Hearings - Item 5.1 Proposed resolution establishing an updated schedule of Penalties for Parking Violations and Late Payment Penalties
According to the city staff a State Mandated Court Surcharge requires the city to increase penalties by $3.00. The city created an itemized list of violations that include parking and failure to update registration, etc. with updated fines for these violations. Leaving the engine running while parked is a violation and abandoning a vehicle on the street requires an initial fine of $150.00.
Lt. Steve Doan, Chief of Police for Laguna Hills spoke on this updated schedule of penalties. He noted that about 3246 parking citations were given out in Laguna Hills in 2008, so not updating these penalties would cost the city about $10,000 for another year. He supported the effort to have the city create it's own bail schedule rather than continue to rely on the County's bail schedule (itemized list of offences with schedule of fees for those offenses). Chief Doan coordinated with City Attorney Greg Simonian to produce this document for the city. These fees were also reported to be in compliance with those in the surrounding neighborhoods. This item was passed.

Public Hearing Comments - NONE
Planning Agency Issues - NONE

Minutes - Minutes of the previous City Council meeting on July 14, 2009 state that in a Private Session Robert Hawkins, Attorney from the Golden Rain Foundation, that was formerly Leisure World, stated he believed there was a way the City of Laguna Hills could work with the Golden Rain Foundation to alleviate concerns of the environmental impact of traffic outside of the city and stated that the City of Laguna Hills failed to analyze this. In the Public session on July 14, 2009 Mr. Hawkins stated there were impacts on other cities as a result of Laguna Hills' New General Plan that need to be considered such as increasing the sq. ft. in the Urban Village Area at the intersection of Moulton and El Toro. He said an analysis should be done now and mitigation planned.

Administrative Reports

City Manager's Report - NONE

6.2 - Assistant City Manager's Report - City's Dog License Campaign coming to your house soon.
The Assist. City Manager, Don White said he had nothing to add to this report.

The Staff Report in the extended Agenda states the current estimate is that 43% of dogs in the city are licensed. It is projected that 36% of unlicensed dogs are not spayed or neutered. Unlicensed dogs reportedly represent a loss of license fees of over $200,000.00 annually therefore the city is seeking to recover these losses.

It is the opinion of the Laguna Hills Watch Dog that the city could have solved licensing problems years ago by providing animal care services for citizens that are not too dangerous and too far away for citizens to use. This city council had a chance to partner with the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter and use the additional license fees the citizens indicated they were willing to pay for much better services, but the city council turned that down to continue to use the cheapest services available with the 67 year old dilapidated County Shelter that is 20 miles away in the City of Orange, has a 50 % and greater kill rate and in the past year impounded more than 43,000 animals. The City of Aliso Viejo wisely took the spot Laguna Hills was initially offered with the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter and are very happy there. Mission Viejo's records show that citizens are more willing to license pets with a safe shelter close to home so numbers of unlicensed pets diminish without canvassing, and pet licenses are cheaper with the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter. It's a simple premise, if people are offered good services at a reasonable price people will join.

The new canvassing program is stated to include 1 full time canvasser for $40,000 which the city staff says should provide $53,000 in additional revenue initially and going forward should produce $36,000 annually. The city says they will publish public information from August through December 2009 and start canvassing in January of 2010. The August "City Views" has a 2 page spread and advertises a pet Clinic through he County Shelter to be held at the Laguna Hills Community Center for the entire population of Laguna Hills dog owners for 4 hours - from 9 Am to 1:00 PM in Oct. There will be license amnesty if Laguna Hills citizens license their pets at a city clinic. The low cost neuter and spay clinic that happens to be located in Laguna Hills but receives no assistance from the City will distribute low cost neuter and spay information at that clinic.

In November there will reportedly be another ad in the "City Views" about the canvassing. In February there will be an additional ad in City Views about the 45 day license amnesty period and the license campaign. There will reportedly be more press releases, one repeat Pet Clinic at the Community Center and on April 15 the license amnesty period will end. Staff states they will monitor monthly licensing reports to measure the success of the canvassing program. Current licensing data reported for Laguna Hills states:
Unaltered dogs = 303, Guide dogs = 3, Puppy licenses = 37, Senior Discounts = 276, Altered dogs = 2,501 and Total dogs reported = 3,120. Be sure to call the city to be sure about all of this as their report contains some contradictions in information.

6.3 - Contracts with the County of Orange and the Aliso Meadows condo Assoc. for Community Development Block Grant Funds - The city staff states that in the past 5 years Laguna Hills has received $1,516,766 from Orange County for 248 units in the Aliso Meadows condos in the Via Lomas area. For 2009-10 Laguna Hills was tentatively awarded $200,000.00 to rehab another 10 units so the city council is asked now to approve the contracts. Vern Jones, Community Development Director noted a new program requirement that newly rehabed residences cannot have rent increases for a period of one year.

6.4 - Community Services, Historical and Arts Commission Name Change
Request for the The Community Services, Historical and Arts Commission name to be changed to Parks and Recreational Services and the duties of the commission revised.

The above items were all approved

Public Comments - Speaker Art Ricolte (name spelling uncertain) stated he lives in the Via Lomas Area and 100 residential units in that area have been completed to date with Grant Funds through a program by HUD and have been brought up to safe and sanitary conditions. He said this has raised the morale of the community and he wants this to continue. He thanked the city council for approving this for another 2 years.

Matters Presented by Mayor & City Council Members

Mayor Joel Lautenschleger ended the meeting by stating that the city received a Certificate of Achievement from the Government Finance Offices Association auditors for their 2008 financial reporting. Joel said that this award states they demonstrate a sprit of full disclosure which he apparently interpreted as a high level of transparency. It's great that this city appears to work well with government auditors but related to transparency this is a continued problem for the citizens. A city receiving an award for being cooperative during an audit appears to somewhat childish but possibly is part of a program of positive reinforcement from auditors to encourage cities to comply up front rather than waste auditor's time?

In any case this statement about transparency from the City of Laguna Hills is a direct contradiction to what we experience, such as our report last month that at the June 23, 2009 City Council Meeting, Melody Carruth unleashed a storm of protest from Craig Scott, Allan Songstad, and Joel Lautenschleger by asking for more transparency from the city manager to the city council related to raises in wages for city staff. At the same meeting Mr. Tom Epperson, citizen of Laguna Hills, was told by Joel Lautenschleger that he was on the wrong subject when he echoed Ms. Carruth's request and asked for more financial transparency for the citizens as well. The citizens have been consistently denied information including the "8 goals" that the city manager was supposed to have met to receive his $32,000 bonus for 2008, and this week we find a purchase of a $50,000 Toyota by the city in the warrant register with no explanation related to why, or for whom. Citizens have been asking since March of 2008 for an explanation of why Don White, Assistant City Manager, announced that the fee for an animal control officer, for better service for Laguna Hills from the County Shelter, would be $230,000 a year when in Oct. of 2005 it would have been only $48,000 a year. Don White continues to refuse to comment on that. Hopefully this city is more transparent with auditors than they are with the citizens or even some members of their own city council?

Joel also said he and Allan had both attended a Summit On Government Conference for the League of Cities with 500 elected officials.

City Council Member Melody Carruth - Noted that the exhibit on the very remarkable life of Ms. Nellie Gail Moulton opened in the lobby of City Hall for all to see and 4 more historical exhibits are now on the walls of the City Hall Lobby leading to the back door.