Follow the Leader

Throughout Cathy Schlicht’s council campaign, she made public safety her top priority – questioning city policies, police practices and the city’s emergency preparedness. For years, Cathy has regularly attended council meetings, often speaking from the public microphone about safety.

On Nov. 25, residents received an automated phone call from the city with a message that began, “This is a test of the new AlertOC emergency public notification system.” The message encouraged residents to check out the city’s Website for further information. Most residents were probably surprised to get the recorded call. Another surprise had come the week before in a city-hall-generated story news story in the Nov. 18 OC Register.

The article talked about Paul Catsimanes (the city’s emergency-preparedness chief) and the notification system. The surprise was the failure to mention Cathy, who had campaigned on safety issues and led the way, informing residents about AlertOC. Her modest council campaign treasury consisted mostly of her own money, and she sent a mailer to voters about the county’s AlertOC project. Her mailer provided the public service announcement about how to access the county’s early alert system. Catsimanes has been on the job for years, receiving $100,000-plus annually. By contrast, Cathy has received nothing for her service, and she did his job by sending AlertOC information to residents after she (and others as well) asked why the city hadn’t done it.

The Nov. 18 article should have mentioned Schlicht, who won a council seat on Nov. 4. However, city hall staff members aren’t ready to credit someone who has criticized them for wasting Other People’s Money and not doing their jobs.

Prior to the city’s installing an electronic message board at La Paz and Marguerite, council members (channeling the babble of city staffers) said the message board would play a crucial role in alerting residents to emergency situations. Those who heard the claim are still laughing.

Instead of residents following city hall’s leaders, the real leaders are community members. The primary message from city employees and the council majority is spin, including excuses about the mess on Crown Valley Parkway and all their other botched projects. The city crew is without a sense of direction except when one of them notices a resident with a good idea. This time, it took a campaign mailer from Schlicht to wake up Catsimanes.

The score last week was Schlicht 1, city hall 0, and she won’t officially take office until Dec. 1. A recorded phone call should be playing within city hall, “This is not a test. It’s a real emergency: Cathy’s been elected, and she’ll be watching us.”