June 19 Council Meeting Summary
Editorial staff

The council voted 5-0 to approve the 2006-2007 Law Enforcement Services Agreement with the County of Orange during the June 19 meeting. The cost, “not to exceed $12,231,026,” had a rider of $65,000 for Delta Unit services. Councilman John Paul Ledesma asked the city’s police chief, Lt. Steve Bernardi, for an explanation. Bernardi said the extra cash goes for overtime resulting from complaints about “party houses, drug houses and criminal activities including vandalism.” No explanation was given as to why the investigation of such lawbreaking isn’t covered in the $12,231,026 contract or why anyone is working overtime beyond round-the-clock shifts in “California’s safest city.”

The council voted 5-0 to approve the Information Technology Strategic Plan following a lengthy boilerplate-style presentation by a consultant, Greg Curtain. Curtain began by reporting the “city is in good shape for establishing and maintaining information technology infrastructure.” He later added “the city has excellent infrastructure in place.” Curtin didn’t define any pressing need or a lack of service regarding information technology. He did say, however, that the city “has a lack of storing information” – too many paper documents. Other problems he cited were too many software applications throughout the city and a lack of standard procedures regarding information technology.

Perhaps Curtain’s presentation was designed for larger cities that have operations in numerous buildings, whereas Mission Viejo’s is under one roof. To address the problems he outlined, Curtain recommended hiring an IT director at $153,000, plus one employee for the unidentified workload. Beyond the salary and benefits, Curtin recommended the city should spend $390,500 for Phase I of his plan. Councilwoman Gail Reavis objected to hiring more staff members and said she would vote against the plan if it meant approving two additional positions.

Curtain summarized with his comment, “You should see a theme emerging here.” Residents may be more mindful of the campaign theme when all five council members ran as fiscal conservatives in a contract-based city.

No one asked why the consultant who made the recommendations didn’t also recommend software and procedures. Councilman Ledesma, however, pointed out that the city manager currently could direct the IT manager to take the needed actions and make the decisions being discussed in the plan. Ledesma also stated that the city had recently spent several hundred thousand dollars on new software.

The council voted 5-0 to approve the bid specifications for the community and senior center expansion, authorize the staff to advertise for bids and award the contract on July 31. Councilwoman Reavis pointed out the cost of the project had jumped from an estimated $3 million to $7.1 million. She asked about financing, as the Foundation is to raise $1 million, which hasn’t been raised, and $2 million is to come from Steadfast, pending the beginning of a project frozen in a lawsuit. Reavis also said the Foundation is counting city grants of $400,000 as part of the check for $1 million it hopes to give to the city. The city received a $3 million grant for the expansion, part of which has been used for architectural fees. The city manager stated the city’s General Fund would cover shortfalls if money is not available from the identified sources.

The council voted 4-1 (Reavis dissenting) to permit the Senior Community Activity Team to write parking citations. Two public speakers asked for a demonstration of need, and both suggested the proposed plan is to create revenue rather than provide a service. The ordinance states the city manager could also designate city employees to write parking tickets. Given the explanation of saving money by having volunteers write the tickets, the reason for using city employees wasn’t clarified. Councilwoman Reavis asked questions about the liabilities of having citizens write tickets and the training provided.