Councilman Lance MacLean’s Planning Commissioner, Mary Binning, resigned this week. Dec. 12 was her last meeting on the commission, where she has served since January 2003. As The Buzz reported, she works for John Cavanaugh, who has applied for the position of Mission Viejo’s city attorney. Cavanaugh might believe he has three votes on the council, in which case he could bring Binning in as assistant city attorney.

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Details of the $100,000 public outreach contract for widening Crown Valley Parkway became available on Dec. 13. This contract to inform the public about the project was given to Roger Faubel Oct. 17 with a 4-1 council vote. During the meeting, Council Member Trish Kelley said the contract “wouldn’t cost the city” anything, and she favored giving Faubel someone else’s money (funds from such sources as Measure M and Ladera Ranch development). Her comment about someone else’s money didn’t tell the whole story. By the end of the Dec. 13 special meeting of the council, City Manager Dennis Wilberg said the city will kick in $15,000 above and beyond the $100,000 contract for a telephone survey as part of public outreach. And how high will it go -- $15,000 at a time?

Details have surfaced regarding Faubel’s description of services his firm will provide, including a whopping $14,000 for a catered VIP ceremony and photo op upon completion of the project. This amount includes $1,000 for balloons, $2,000 for tent rental and $500 for such things as “golden shovels.” For the price of golden shovels, they could purchase a manure spreader.

At the Dec. 12 meeting, Council Members Gail Reavis and John Paul Ledesma voted against ratifying the contract, which passed 3-2.

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Councilman MacLean held a fundraiser for himself on Nov. 30. Throughout his campaign prior to his 2002 election, he advocated economic development for the city. The city’s “great new program” of economic development touted by Council Member Kelley in her Dec. 5 State of the City Address consists of a certificate presented to Mission Viejo businesses that manage to survive for five years. No explanation was given by Kelley on how this promotes economic development, but perhaps MacLean will continue the “great new program” of certificate presentations during his year as mayor in 2006. His Nov. 30 fundraiser was held at Fox Sports Grill – located in Irvine.

MacLean received a gift at the council’s Dec. 13 special meeting to mark the beginning of his year as mayor. Joe Holtzman presented MacLean with two sets of headgear designed as basketball goals. Apparently, two opponents wear the headgear – hoops with nets – strapped to their heads and aim basketballs into each other’s hoops. The name of the headgear: Basket Case.

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A positive note for open government: After the Dec. 12 Planning Commission meeting, a citizen was told by the city clerk's office that the city would not supply an audiotape of the meeting to the library. The citizen then spoke to Kim Schmitt in the city clerk's office about the problem. Schmitt talked with City Manager Dennis Wilberg, and they decided to change the policy to accommodate better public disclosure and place audiotapes of all Planning Commission meetings in the library. The Buzz welcomes this change and appreciates when the city is responsive to citizen requests for information about the workings of government.

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Residents of State Assembly District 71 recently received a mailer from Assemblyman Todd Spitzer. The mailer includes a Report Card whereby constituents can participate in a survey about California schools. Survey items include accountability and spending money wisely. Capistrano USD residents are still awaiting results of a more specific type of survey. Steven Rodermund, Orange County Registrar of Voters, will announce results of the recall petition drive on Dec. 23. At last report, he said his office would need every minute to verify 177,000 signatures. The count for several trustees has been completed, but Rodermund won’t release any information until everything is finished Dec. 23.

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A group of residents put together an initiative to give the people of Mission Viejo the right to vote on all major development projects in the city. Patterned after the Yorba Linda "Right to Vote" measure and Newport Beach's "Greenlight" law, it would require the residents to approve any major change to the Mission Viejo General Plan or other planning documents. This would mean such projects as Steadfast’s proposed development and the two proposed housing complexes in south Mission Viejo would have to meet with voter approval before being built. This proposed measure was presented to the Planning Commission Dec. 13. The commissioners unanimously said at a previous meeting they would recommend such a measure to the City Council. If the council doesn’t place this on the ballot, the residents can do so by submitting petitions to the city with about 8,000 signatures.

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The Buzz broke the news two weeks ago that the city will likely be sued by the Public Law Center regarding affordable housing. Insiders say it’s coming. While some residents couldn’t care less, one should consider that the litigant could get an injunction to hold up all building permits in the city – everything from a remodel to installing a new water heater. If anyone questions why the Public Law Center would choose Mission Viejo to make its case, consider that Councilman MacLean has repeatedly run to the newspapers, particularly the L.A. Times, regarding affordable housing issues. Both MacLean and Planning Commissioner Chandra Krout have called Mission Viejo residents “elitists” in the L.A. Times. Putting Mission Viejo on the Public Law Center’s radar screen could be a costly stunt by these two publicity hounds. Affordable housing goals wouldn’t be an issue in this built-out city if irresponsible council majorities had stopped rolling out the red carpet for developers when there was no remaining space for residential development. Pro-developer former council members who triggered the problems with affordable housing were Sherri Butterfield, Susan Withrow and Bill Craycraft when they approved additional housing complexes without affordable components.