March 8, 2011 - Laguna Hills City Council Meeting
All Council Members were present
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Special Announcements - March 12 – City Council Workshop is open to the Public – At least 2/3rds of the scheduled meeting time will be devoted to the planned discussion of the City Council Member's Mission, Vision and Values for the City, and Council Practices and Procedures. City Department Heads have been asked to join the Council Members for lunch at noon and then participate in the afternoon session, to begin the Council's rating process of the proposed goals/major plans for the 2011-13 biennial budget. This will be in the Council Chamber at City Hall on Sat. March 12 from 9am to 3 pm Citizens are urged to attend to make their opinions about this known, however, according to Mayor Songstad, the Public is only allowed to speak at the beginning of this session at 9 am.

** Check out Win Win Wednesdays Never Tasted so Good at their new web site at www.winwinwednesdays.com - See more below and in INFORMATION, COMMENTS QUESTIONS and CONCERNS from Watch Dog Readers below.

Presentations and Proclamations - None

Public Comments - Meg Gorham, Laguna Hills Citizen and tireless worker for Win-Win-Wednesday Never Tasted So Good, the fun fund raiser for a Safe and Sane Grad Night. Be sure to CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE: click on www.winwinwednesdays.com ! This will be the web site for the next 5 years. Be sure to download a flyer to present to the eating establishment you are attending on Win-Win-Wednesdays. Thank you for helping the LHHS Grad. Class for 2011 to have a safe and sane Grad. Night celebration and for trying the great eating establishments in Laguna Hills. Meg added that this is now being more widely publicized and asked for permission to post a flyer in an acrylic frame about this event at the Community Center desk and was told No by Mayor Songstad, because if the City gives that privilege to one group "it becomes a public forum" and they'd have to give it to others who may not be as worthy. City Attorney Greg Simonian was asked to explain and said, "There are no laws that require Public Access to areas of the Civic Center or City Hall'. He continued that the City is permitted to deny access and the office areas and other areas that look public have not been designated as a Public Forum because primarily they are places of business. If the City were to dedicate a limited Public Forum it would have open it up to all messages and the City could not discriminate based on content of the message.

LHHS Student Liaison Report by Lyndsey Kaan - Today and tomorrow a schedule change 10th graders are doing some standardized testing and freshmen are doing fitness testing. There have been a lot of changes to the LHHS web site including a URL change for the site - it is now lhhs.svusd.org The ICMD conference went really well. Cocoa with Mr. Boulton (a sort of fireside chat for the students) was integrated from the ICMD conference and now there is one for parents as well called The Principal's on Cable. This is about once a month and parents can talk with the principal about issues going on at the school. Lindsey said she and Mike Spain were interviewed and had their photos in an item about the conference in the OC Register recently. Next Friday in the LHHS stadium is the Powder Puff game which is a football teams consisting of Junior and Senior girls competing with each other. Lyndsey said it gets pretty intense, said she is playing for the Seniors and predicted the Seniors would win! She noted that the LHHS Choir's Singing Car Wash was canceled and rescheduled for this Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm at the Fuddruckers's parking lot on El Toro Rd. Sports - 4 wrestlers are going to State and 4 LHHS football players were recognized for the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame. Mayor Songstad interjected that his wife started the ICMD conference years ago. Mayor Pro-Tem Carruth noted that at the ICMD Conference an idea from Lyndsey's got a standing ovation. Lyndsey explained that her idea was longer lunches and there was a tie between longer lunches and a peer mentoring program but Mr. Boulton nixed the longer lunches.

Minutes - Recommendation that the City Council Approve the Minutes of the previous City Council Meeting for publication on the city web site. The minutes from tonight's meeting will not be edited and approved for publication until the next city council meeting so there is a long delay for the public related to timely information from the city.

Consent Calendar - Warrant Register = $174,992.31

Items of interest from the Warrant Register - The City is charging the City's Adopted 3/5 Marine's Support Group Committee $200 for it's booth at the City's Memorial Day 1/2 Marathon and 5K Event. The City is subtracting that amount from the amount they originally voted to donate to the Support Committee for Start-Up Expenses in 2010 after the Marines were adopted by the City in 2007. (Editor's Note - It should be noted that all of the 3/5 support group committee members and volunteers donate all of their time and work for free.)

Items of Interest from the Consent Calendar: **Items on the Consent Calendar are placed there by City Staff.

Item 4.3 - Volunteer Connection Day - This will be on April 16th this year and begins at 9 am at the Laguna Hills Community Center. A complimentary Lunch is provided to volunteers. Every year the City asks for citizens to donate their services to clean up/beautify the City through Trail Clean-Ups, Tree Planting, and Painting. This year the Parks and Recreation Staff is recommending trail/wetland area clean-ups on 5 trails, tree planting for Arbor Day on Aliso Hills Pkwy. between Alicia Pkwy. and Mendocino Court, and the continuation of a Painting Project in North Laguna Hills on a wall that runs along Santa Maria Ave. Last year there were 99 volunteers and 1500 lbs. of trash and recyclables were collected. If you have an organization that would like to participate call Todd Smyser, Community Services Senior Leader at 949-707-2690 for more information.
Fiscal Impact to the City is estimated to be about $1000.

Item 4.4 - Cost Sharing Agreement between City of Laguna Hills and City of Lake Forest for splitting monthly electrical charges and occasional maintenance costs for under deck lighting of the I-5 over crossing of El Toro Rd. City's Report states Street lighting of El Toro Rd. beneath the I-5 overcross is provided by the State but maintenance and electrical costs of the lighting are paid by the City. Part of the lighting illuminated El Toro Rd. in Lake Forest so agreement was made to split the costs for this area. The annual cost for the lighting in question is anticipated to be $2000 and the cooperative agreement will split this cost. In the agreement the City of Laguna Hills agrees to pay the utility bill and any occasional maintenance required and bill the City of Lake Forest for 50% of all costs, but in no event shall Lake Forest's costs exceed a total cost of $5,000 per year.

Item 4.5 - General Plan Annual Report - Annual Reports from all cities on the status of their General Plan and its implementation are required by Government Code Section 65400 to be submitted to their legislative bodies. Cities must include progress on their Housing Element, and their Efforts to reduce Greenhouse Gasses. Failures to comply may include a court injunction and sanctions. The City's General Plan was adopted in 1994. The housing element was updated in 2001 and in the City's updated General Plan was adopter on July 14, 2009. Please see details of the City's General Plan report on the City Web site under the March 8 City Council Agenda General Plan Report.

Items Pulled from the Consent Calendar - Item 4.3 was pulled by Council Member Bresette and Item 4.5 was pulled by Council Member Kogerman. The rest of the Consent Calendar was passed by a Vote of 5-0

Item 4.3 - Volunteer Connection Day - Council Member Bressette asked about the tree planting between on Aliso Hills Parkway between Aliso Parkway and Mendicino Court, more precisely where the trees will be planted, what kinds of trees and is irrigation in place . David Reynolds, Community Services Director and Deputy City Manager responded that this area of tree planting will be closer to Alicia Pkwy. on Aliso Hills to help shield some of the utility vehicle and trucks that might park there for City support. The kinds of trees to be planted there have not yet been selected. It was determined that irrigation lines are in the parkway area but will need to be run to the trees. Ken Rosenfield, Director of Public Services, City Engineer explained that the tree planting in this area will probably extend over a period of several years between Medicino Court and the park extending up the hill until they eventually get to the park. The trees will be planted in the parkway, which is narrow, so limits the choice of trees to small ones. Mayor Pro-Tem Carruth suggested that the residents be asked what kinds of trees they want related to the close proximity of the trees to their properties. Ken Rosenfield, Director of Public Services suggested that an alternate to this tree planting project could be planting the trees on Paseo de Valencia between the bike and equestrian trails between Stockport and Kennington as there is a larger space for planting here and trees that are dying from disease and need to be replaced. Carruth stated she favors this alternate plan. Council Member Kogerman said she favors this plan now as well due to how bad the trees that are planted there now look. Bressette added that he prefers the trees be planted on Aliso Hills to shield the view of the area used frequently by the City as a city yard. Vote - Item 4.3 passed 5-0 to plant the trees on Aliso Hills

Item 4.5 - General Plan Annual Report - Council Member Kogerman asked Ken Rosenfield to update citizens on the recent numbers that have moved in favor of the City re. the La Paz at I-5 road widening. Ken Rosenfield, Director of Public Services, City Engineer stated the contract price has been awarded for $4.4 million rather than up to $6.5 million as originally predicted and additional Federal Fund Grant Money is funding the project bringing the total to $4.7 million, so at this time there is no expectation of any need for money from the City's general fund for this project. Mayor Pro-Tem Carruth asked if the businesses in this area have been contacted re. any impact on their business related to this project. and Council Member Bressette asked about the effect on traffic in the area and business signage and Ken Rosenfield responded that all the businesses have been contacted and the residents in the area are being contacted. They are all being supplied with phone #s and e-mail for contact with the City regarding any problems including any shifts in traffic patterns that could cause problems for any neighborhoods. No existing business signage will be affected, and vast majority of the work on this project will be done at night.

Council Member Kogerman requested another update related to Item 4.5 and the Commercial Food Waste Recycling Program at the Claim Jumper and Laguna Hills Mall Food Court. Kogerman stated Laguna Hills Food Court is disappearing and Claim Jumper is gone. Question for David Reynolds,Community Services Director, is there any outreach going on for the continuation of this recycling program? David Reynolds responded this is a regional program offered to 5 to 6 businesses in the community. It is funded by the County of Orange and scheduled to end in Dec. of this year as funding runs out. Staff will be bringing the council a plan to address the continuation of this program after funding is concluded. Council Member Bressette asked about Ralph's Pharmacy and the Sharps Recycling Program? David Reynolds, Community Services Director stated only one pharmacy is participating in the sharps recycling program but can contact the pharmacy at Ralphs as well. Vote - Item 4.5 passed 5 - 0

Planning Agency Public Hearing - NONE

Administrative Reports - **These Items are authored by City Staff Item 7.2.1 - Adoption of an agreement for acquisition of interests in real property for a right-of-way acquisition for the Avenida de la Carlotta widening project. *** This item was scratched from the Agenda on Feb. 22 and continued to March 8, 2011 due to the City continuing to work through some major issues with property owners per Director of Public Services, Ken Rosenfield. Report states this project will add a traffic lane on the Westerly side of Avenida de la Carlota between Paseo de Valencia and El Toro Rd to create triple left turn movements from existing lanes at the I-5/El Toro south bound off ramp onto Avenida de la Carlota and add a 3rd left turn lane from south bound Avenida de la Carlota on the east bound El Toro Rd. Fiscal Impact to the City - $2,071,000 included in the current fiscal year capital improvement program budget paid in Grant Funds. There were no public comments on this item.
Vote - Mitigated Monitoring Pgrm. passes 5 -0 and Agreement for Acquisition of Interests in Real Property passe 5-0 Mayor Songstad congratulated Greg Simonian, the City Attorney, for his fine work on this contractually complicated issue.

Item 7.3.1 - 2011 Laguna Hills Half Marathon and 5K event update - This event is scheduled for May 30, 2011 with a starting time of 7 am. The registration form for the participants allows for a contribution of $5 for the 3/5 Marines, if desired, but none of the proceeds from the fee for participation will go to the City's Adopted 3/5 Marines. Both the 5K and the Half Marathon events will begin at Saddleback Memorial Hospital and will take circuitous routes ending at The Laguna Hills Community Center. Fiscal Impact to the City - Staff is projecting $140,000 in expenses and $142,000 in event revenues.

Dan Meehan, Community Services Superintendent reported that this is the 13th annual event and will take place on Monday, May 30 with both races starting at 7 am. 275 runners are registered to date. Staff is collaborating with South County Outreach encouraging a food drive and proceeds from the Beer Garden will be donated to the South County Outreach Food Drive. Saddleback Community Hospital donated $15,000 to this event as a sponsor. Staff suggested the box to be checked on the runner's registration for a donation for the 3/5 Marines and information about the 3/5 and the opportunity to donate for them has been posted on ad materials for the event.

Editor's Note - History of this event - Saddleback Community Hospital stopped sponsoring this event due to losing money on it every year with past financial losses of up to $35,000 in 2007, so the City of Laguna Hills took it over in 2008. In 2008 the City lost $7,390, and in 2009 the City lost $11,626. In 2010 the City reported that it made $3,296 and that 2,600 people participated. 192 participants were from Laguna Hills and 12 rooms were booked at hotels in Laguna Hills related to this one day event. In 2011 there is finally a "Memorial" aspect to this Memorial Day Event because there is now a Support Committee for the City's Adopted 3/5 Marines that were technically adopted by the City in 2007, and formally adopted with a ceremony in 2008 but not supported by the City until 2010 when the City funded a donation of $10,000 as start up funds for the Support Committee to complete the legal work, insurance and other start up business needed for a non-profit corporation. The 3/5 Adopted Marines Support Committee requested that $1 be added to each participant fee for the 2011 Memorial Day event to be donated to the 3/5 Marines and their families toward the $3000 needed for the Welcome Home from Afghanistan Marine Corps. Birthday Ball and ongoing support, but the committee received a box for runners to check on the participation form if they wished to donate $5 to the Marines and the City is charging the committee $200 for a booth at the Memorial Day Event.

Mayor Pro-Tem Carruth asked about the Beer Garden proceeds going to the City's adopted 3/5 Marines and how to establish a permanent connection between the 3/5 Marines and this City Event to provide ongoing funding for the support of the 3/5 Marines and she strongly suggested that the connection between this Memorial Day Event and the City be significantly enhanced in the information in City Views. Dan Meehan, Community Services Superintendent said the staff has an agreement with County County Outreach regarding the food drive and the donation, but no written agreement that binds the City long term. BJs donation of the beer is contingent upon the proceeds being donated to a non-profit. Council Member Bressette suggested the headline charity for this event be the Laguna Hills Team Darkhorse the 3/5 Marine Support Committee and stressed that a headline charity attracts people to an event. He asked that next year this event be dedicated to the 3/5 Marines and that a specific dollar amount of each fee be donated as opposed to a check the box option and profits from this event go to the Darkhorse Support Committee next year as well as the Beer Garden proceeds. He said there is no more appropriate date to honor our Marines and made a motion that in addition to receive and file staff report, any profits from the race in lieu of going to the General Fund be contributed to the 3/5 Team Darkhorse Committee. Carruth seconded that motion and said she expects with that connection to the 3/5 Marines the numbers for this event will go higher. Council Member Lautenschleger stated Bressette's motion should come back to the city as a staff report. He said, "South County Outreach does a fabulous job," and if a change is needed there should be a full report. He said, "The 3/5 may not be the headline next year," and added "I don't know if I would consider it a headline charity type thing." "It's not like Cancer Research or something like that," but said he is okay with it being a signature event. He continued that he wants to see things go ahead as they are set up this year and consider a full report next year.

City Attorney Greg Simonian explained that he determined with the staff that for this year a check the box approach to donating to the Marines would be the safest course of action because there was a concern about any kind of hidden tax or Prop. 218 issue or something whereby participation and contribution would be converted into something that would be of an involuntary nature. The 3/5 has been the recipient of a resolution by the council in the amount of $10,000 with the requisite public purpose finding so that cannot be challenged as a legal gift of public funds. Having a City Sponsored program where proceeds of an event are earmarked for a particular charity without requisite public purpose findings could run afoul of that constitutional principle. It has not been vetted enough to know if this approach would be legal or not. He said he thinks it would be a cleaner course of action to address Team Darkhorse in a separate public purpose finding resolution each year and for the council to select an appropriate figure as opposed to earmarking proceeds from a public event and concluded that he is not yet convinced that the 5K is a revenue generator.

Carruth stressed that there is a natural connection between Memorial Day and the City's 3/5 Adopted Marines and proceeds from this event would produce a self sustaining source of income to assist the 3/5. Council Member Kogerman added dedicating this event to the 3/5 is very fitting for a signature event to bind the community with the event so she suggests asking the City Attorney to prepare something to make that happen. She added that the 3/5 may not be in the news in the future as it is today but the need will still be there especially for the veterans and their families. She also asked that the ad and registration include all the hotels and motels in the City rather than just one and how that is decided. Dan Meehan, Community Services Superintendent stated the Renegade Racing staff reached out to all the hotels and motels in Laguna Hills for a package or discounted rate for runners in this event and so far only Courtyard has participated.
Vote was 5-0 to receive and file this report and 5-0 for the council to direct staff to return with a timely report to determine if there can be a transfer of any profits to the Darkhorse Battalion.

Other Business - **These Items are authored by Council Members - None

Matters Presented by Mayor & City Council Members

Council Member Kogerman - stated she had 4 items to mention.

1. - She and Lt. Doan (Laguna Hills Sherrif's department's Chief of Police.) were guests of the Linda Vista Neighborhood Watch Group in Aliso Hills last Thursday. Lt. Doan brought up the County Emergency Alert System. She asked him to update citizens on that. Chief Doan stated Alert OC was a program started by the County of Orange with some grant funding from the Federal Government. They made a reverse 911 system available to all the municipalities and special districts in the county so in an emergency/disaster we call notify all residents and businesses. We participated in a County Wide test call last Oct. and currently have about 17,000 resident and about 14,000 business phone #s in the system right now. It's populated by the E911 data base which is the hard lines that go into businesses and residences in the City. Beyond that it is an "opt in" program where community members can go to the web site and opt in with cell phones, e-mail addresses and additional phones, etc. that can be used to contact them in an emergency. The system can send e-mail, voice mail and can even send text messages to cell phones. Chief Doan and others from the Sheriff's dept. utilize the Neighborhood Watch Prgms. to give out this information and have gotten a good response with "opting in". This program is continuing to improve by working on additional methods to contact the population such as an RSS feed, some sort of Facebook and Twitter connections, etc. and they just got the graphics to create a link on the web site. Kogerman said at a previous meeting the staff said only 30% of the city could be contacted for a City Survey now so we need to have options to just land line coverage.

2. Council Member Kogerman stated regarding the newest "At A Glance Tables" information posted on the City web site for the Public Official's Compensation Report, she was disappointed that the tables were difficult to ferret out and not "At a Glance". You still have to read through a lengthy narrative and click here, and then go back to read some more and click again, etc. It is cumbersome and needs to be more user friendly. She said she has no problem with the narrative being included but would like to see the "At a Glance Tables" in a grouping and allow people to go from there to the narrative as desired. There were also some errors - first one was the statement -"City Council members are also required to participate in the City’s retirement program with Cal-PERS". This is not true, it is not mandatory and under current state law council members have to participate in some retirement plan that the City offers but not this one. Kogerman said she enrolled in a 457 Preferred Comp. which costs the city less 3.5% as opposed to 7% for Cal-PERS.

Council Member Lautenschleger stated he was very pleased with the new posting of the "At A Glance Tables" on the City web site. He said he did not know how that could be any easier to do and was extremely clear and comprehensive.

Editor's Note - All the "Where's Waldo" Fans with a lot of excess time to spend will (like Council Member Lautenschleger) love the new game the City of Laguna Hills has created for its citizens on the city web site. The game begins when you go to the City Web Site at www.ci.laguna-hills.ca.us then click on Public Official's Compensation Report and begin seeking the "At A Glance Table" that was supposed to be posted there for the CONVENIENCE of the citizens? If you can find it before you drown in the sea of PR, background information, and as Council Member Kogerman, pointed out, incorrect information, you win, but either way there is no prize here for citizens. If this was set up as a joke it should have included a laugh track because we doubt the actual audience, the Citizens, will be laughing. It is good to have the qualifications and duties of the council and the management staff available, but the Citizens asked for, and the council voted for, an "AT A GLANCE TABLE" of compensation information and that table could have contained links to the narrative information as needed. The way this has been set this up is backwards to what was requested and in our opinion a primary indicator to citizens that the Management Staff and some council members still consider themselves the headliners and the citizens they are supposed to serve, and who pay their compensation, as secondary. This is a great example of the need for Public discussion of the Mission, Vision and Values for the City, and the Council Practices and Procedures at the Council Workshop on Sat. March 12. If you can't attend to hear the Council Members discuss this first hand we will be there and will report.

Kogerman continues - The report also says all council members have to participate in the medical insurance plan and again that isn't true because Kogerman chose not to and she said she encourages other city council members who have other insurance options to consider those options rather than requiring the City to pay for their medical insurance. She congratulated Council Member Joel Lautenschleger for recently opting out of the City Medical Ins. and Council Member Bressette for consistently choosing to forgo some of the costs of medical coverage so his costs to the city have historically been about 1/2 the cost incurred by other council members. (Editor's Note - We also congratulate Joel Lautenschleger - on the council since 1991. In 2008-09 his medical insurance cost the citizens $22,164, dental $1,360, vision $301. Total in 2009 = $23,825.00 Total in 2011 - is now 0)

Kogerman also stated that this online posting was the only way the council was made aware of the performance bonuses ranging from 4.5% to 6.5% that were awarded to the City Management team by City Manager Bruce Channing last year, as his contract permits him to do, without prior approval from the City Council and without any reporting requirement to the City Council of having done this. On June 23 of 2009, Council Members Carruth and Bressette asked for a requirement for Channing to report to the City Council if and when performance bonuses were granted and that motion failed 2 to 3 (Editor's Note the 3 no votes were Lautenschleger, Songstad and Craig Scott) after a prior motion to require council approval for such bonuses never made it to a vote. Kogerman suggested that this motion be presented again at the next council meeting and said she will put this on the agenda. She further suggested that given today's push for compensation reform the council revisit the practice of granting performance bonuses.

3. The City Council Workshop this Saturday from 9 am to 3 pm is open to the Public – At least 2/3rds of the scheduled meeting time will be devoted to the planned discussion of the City Council Member's Mission, Vision and Values for the City, and Council Practices and Procedures. City Department Heads have been asked to join the Council Members for lunch at noon and then participate in the afternoon session, to begin the Council's rating process of the proposed goals/major plans for the 2011-13 biennial budget. This will be in the Council Chamber at City Hall on Sat. March 12 from 9am to 3 pm and Kogerman urged Citizens to attend to make their opinions about this known. Mayor Songstad said he wanted to clarify that the workshop on Sat. is a Public Meeting, "but it's a Council Workshop. There will be an opportunity at the beginning, as we do with all of our workshops for Public Comments, but most of the dialogue will be between council members and staff and the public is certainly welcome to listen to all that goes on, so I just want to make sure that that is clarified."

4. Kogerman also announced that her husband Lt. Col. Bill Kogerman has been elected Vice Chairman of the State Parks and Recreation Commission. She said she knows he will do a great deal of good for the State and the people of Orange County.

Council Member Bressette said he and his family celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the election for cityhood last Friday night and he believes their dream for cityhood became a reality and they have done a good job.

Closed Session - 5th Public Employee Performance Evaluation for the City Manager (the result from this 5th meeting was still - Nothing To Report.) and Anticipated Litigation Conference with Legal Counsel

Next regular City Council Meeting is Tuesday March 22, 7 pm, at City Hall and will include goals/major plans submitted by council members during the week of March 14. The 3 PUBLIC BUDGET WORKSHOPS have been cut to 2. The 1st will be held on Saturday March 12, 9 am to 3 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall regarding the City's mission, vision, values, policies, practices and procedures as a prelude to discussions of the FY 2011-2013 Budget. The Tuesday, March 15 - Budget Study session has been Canceled. The April 19 Budget Study Session will combine the CIP and Operating Budget study sessions, and the May 17 Budget Study session has been Canceled. There will be a PUBLIC HEARING on the City Budget in June.
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City Council & City Manager Report Card - Number 5 for 2011
Categories - (T) Transparency for Citizens, (A) Accountability to Citizens, (CI) Championing Citizen Related Issue, (AG) Achieving Citizen Related Goal Grades - (P) Pass, (A) for Authoring a Citizen Friendly Item, (F) Fail, (A+) Extra Credit. City Manager will be scored related to online and agendized Staff Reports and Requests Bressette - No Votes on specific citizen related issues this time.

Carruth - Nothing this time
Kogerman - Nothing this time
Lautenschleger - Nothing this time
Songstad - Nothing this time
City Manager - F for the online Public Official's Compensation Report that was supposed to be an "At A Glance Table" that was convenient and easy to read for Citizens, but was published as a lengthy narrative rather than a quick to read statistical table.

INFORMATION, COMMENTS QUESTIONS and CONCERNS from Watch Dog Readers:

A Message from Council Member Kogerman regarding the Public Workshop on Saturday, March 12 that will discuss the City's mission, vision, values, policies, practices and procedures as an intro to the FY 2011-2013 Budget. "I urge citizens to attend the public workshop this Saturday, March 12, from 9 to 3 at the City Council Chamber in City Hall if possible. Many people are not even aware that this is a public meeting, and that the purpose of the meeting is to explore the mission and vision of the City. I will be making numerous suggestions for which I believe the citizens indicated support when they elected me in November. Unfortunately, the rest of the City Council doesn't seem to have heard the same message that I did
My main themes will be that we need to change the prior mission of "we're not a social services provider" to being a city that puts a priority of service over employee--especially management--compensation and perks, and that values an actively-engaged citizenry. The best ideas may not come from City Hall or City Management, but from conversations with citizens. This will be an excellent chance for citizen voices to be heard at the beginning of the session. As to why this event has been kept so close to the vest, I do not know. I hope people will attend and make their opinions known."

Win-Win-Wednesdays - the Fund Raiser for LHHS 2011 Safe and Sane Grad. Night that Never Tasted So Good
click on http://www.svusd.org/p_subject.asp?sid=33358&sm=b19 and download the flyers of your choice to take to the dining establishments. You do need to have the flyer with you to show to the dining establishment to get the funding donated to LHHS for Grad Night.
March 16 – Mandarin Terrace & Lulu’s Creperie March 23 - Don Jose's
March 30 - El Torito
April 6 - Kings Fish House & Rubios
April 13 - Lone Star Steakhouse
April 20 - Golden Baked Ham (During Spring Break & Easter ham orders)
April 27 - Hot Off the Grill
May 4 - Polly's (specializing in mom's home cooking)

DISCRIMINATION for LAGUNA HILLS FRUITS & VEGETABLES?
The Laguna Hills City Council has authorized staff to prepare an Ordinance amending the city Development Code to allow a seasonal agricultural produce stand as a temporary use for an extended period of time. In debate, the City Council has unanimously chosen to limit the Ordinance to strawberry stands. I would argue that under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of The United States corn, carrots, black berries and other vegetables and fruits are being discriminated against by the Ordinance proposed by the Laguna Hills City Council to allow strawberry stands to operate within the city to the exclusion of other vegetables and fruits. Granted that vegetables and fruits do not technically meet the definition of “person” as defined by the Equal Protection Clause, however, it is only a small reach (which courts have continually made) to sweep said vegetables and fruits under the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the event the proposed Ordinance is enacted, kindly be aware that it will be judicially challenged. I have spoken to potential representatives of the injured class whom I believe would be willing to represent the aggrieved parties in a class action suit. Laguna Hills Citizen for Equal Opportunity for LH Fruits & Veggies

How to support the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Division Adopted by the City of Laguna Hills
Donation Checks can be made to Laguna Hills Team Dark Horse and mailed to Team Dark Horse, 27251 Lost Colt Dr., Laguna Hills, CA. 92653. Non-profit corporation status is pending. e-mail Mike Bland at 35bland@gmail.com with questions, suggestions, for information, or about donations, etc. and the city e-mail for the 3/5 is 3/5-support@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us The City Clerk Peggy Johns is the City Liaison to the 3/5 Support Committee. Go to the City web site at http://www.ci.laguna-hills.ca.us/
Be sure to see the Laguna Hills 3/5 Adopted Marines Great new Facebook page created by Karen Robbins at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laguna-Hills-Team-Darkhorse/132765660119128 and share it with your friends!!
The Deadline for shipping items to the 3/5 Marines in Afghanistan has past, so the Marine Support Committee has stopped collecting supplies and goodies, but will gratefully continue taking donations of funds to apply to the Welcome Home Marine Corps Birthday Ball. ** To date 24 Marines from the 3/5 have been killed in action, and more than 150 have been wounded. Secretary of defense Robert Gates praised the 3/5 on in a recent visit to Afghanistan www.latimes.com/news/la-gates-afghan8-m,0,594231.story saying, "the 3/5 has suffered the heaviest losses of any battalion in this 10 year long war."

News Stories and Blogs about Laguna Hills: Click on the links below to see the stories.

No more $60,000 SUVs for city manager?
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2011/02/09/no-more-60000-suvs-for-city-manager/75030/

Gold-plated benefits? New councilwoman just says ‘no’ http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2011/01/18/gold-plated-benefits-new-councilwoman-just-says-no/72532/

OCREGISTER: Laguna Hills councilwoman says no to health benefits http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-282972-benefits-council.html

O.C. cities lavished health benefits on council members
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/12/06/oc-cities-lavished-health-benefits-on-council-members/69544/

Who has the best-paid city council in California? (updated)
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/12/02/who-has-the-best-paid-city-council-incalifornia/69418/
In Laguna Hills the Taxpayers pay the entire cost of heath care premiums for the elected part time city council members and their families. In addition, the City Manager's contract states "To the extent that payment of all or any portion of the dependent rate of premium, is not approved by the city council for all city employees, Channing shall be entitled to a salary increase or cash payment sufficient to cover the amount of premium or rate for dependent coverage not provided by the City plus applicable income taxes on that amount.

OCREGISTER: Kenneth Frank: In defense of city managers
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/city-277030-manager-laguna.html
"Citizens, in turn, must do their part to foster civic pride. They should demand that city council and planning meetings be televised and streamed online. And they need to become involved. In Laguna Beach, we have numerous homeowners associations and environmental, business and labor groups that encourage the exchange of ideas and enhance the interactivity between residents and elected officials.

OCREGISTER: Chris Norby: Local officials susceptible to 'Bell syndrome
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/elected-276253-city-syndrome.html
"Bell syndrome thrives where elected boards vote in lockstep, where groupthink is elevated, and skeptics are ostracized, and where top staff are seen as irreplaceable experts – with rubber-stamped salaries to prove it. Bell syndrome thrives when self-congratulation trumps self-examination."

State Controller John Chaing's Office
http://www.sco.ca.gov/noncompliant_reports.html#cities2

OC has two of state’s best-paid city managers
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/09/17/oc-has-two-of-states-best-paid-city-managers/64492/

OC Register Editorial: City pay data belongs in daylight
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/city-261556-compensation-cities.html

Proposed California law would sanction cities that pay excessive salaries
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-bell-legislation-20100812,0,4204782,email.story

* City Council Members Say the Darndest Things in Public? Memorable and surprising Public Quotes from City Council Members

June 10, 2008 - Mayor Allan Songstad said "We have to go through a bidding process and sometimes the low bidder is not always the best contractor, but sometimes that's what we're stuck with."

Thank you Council Member Songstad, that is exactly what we have been trying to tell you about the Laguna Hills City Council "sticking " the residents with the same bad vendor - The Orange County Animal Shelter for the past 19 years.

October 25, 2005 - Mayor Allan Songstad, speaking about the Laguna Hills City Council said, "When you've been doing business in a certain way for 13 years you're not likely to change that."

So true, Allan, so unfortunately true unless you change members of the city council.

August 19, 1994 - LHCC Member Allan Songstad - From the Los Angeles Times Newspaper Article Collections - Orange County Focus - August 19, 1994 LYNN FRANEY - Laguna Hills Councilman Declines to Run for Reelection With Councilman L. Allan Songstad Jr. declining to run for reelection, at least one newcomer will gain a seat on the City Council this fall. Songstad said he never intended to run for a second council term and that he is not a "career politician." That leaves space for at least one of the challengers, Cindy Greengold, Saeid Hariri, Grant R. Marcus or Charmane Riggs.

Now, in 2011 with 18 years on the Laguna Hills City Council we are guessing Council Member Songstad has changed his mind about being not being a "career politician."

For "CRIME IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD"
www.ocregister.com/saddleback scroll down to "Local Maps" Click on OCSC Crime Calls in the pull down box that says "MORE" move the map to your area, and click on the crime icons for details that show calls to the OC Sheriff's Department. You can also see stats for Crime in Lake Forest & Laguna Hills on Fridays in the Saddleback Valley News that is delivered to our area. Weekly Crime reports in Laguna Hills By CLAIRE WEBB, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER http://www.ocregister.com/news/block-281462-report-drive.html See a map of all crime calls in the city in the past 24 hours by visiting ocregister.com/lagunahills The blotter was compiled by Claire Webb and consists of selected items from the Orange County Sheriff's Department web site, ocsd.org.There is more information at www.ocsd.org (the OC Sheriff's Dept.) click on "E-Services" for the pull down menu, next click on "Sheriff's Blotter" then click "Laguna Hills" for the 7 or 30 day view. LIVE TRAFFIC MAPS Caltrans Online Traffic Maps to instantly check traffic and any incidents on the 405/5 freeways at any time of day. On the tool bar, you can hit "Change Cities," and it shows whatever you put in there - inland, San Diego,etc. http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Region=Orange+County#lat=33.69964&lon=-117.80006&z=1 Contact all of the Laguna Hills City Council Members at: ccouncil@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us phone: 949-707-2610 fax: 949-707-2614

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR of the Orange County Register
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