• City Council Meeting March 2019

This was a presentation heavy/regular agenda light type of meeting. Even the items on the agenda were mostly rubber stamp type items. Things that needed to be passed and didn't come with any controversies. 

PRESENTATIONS 
1. William Collier Elementary School 

Principal Manny Valdez led the presentation and students Blake Baoloy, Eveny Leon, Crista Kerr, Katelyn Parckys and Isabella Herrera each participated as well. Watch the video below to hear what a good job they all did.

2. Eagle Scout – Damion Gonzalo 
3. Eagle Scout – Josh Robles

Eagle Scouts Damion Gonzalo (left) and Josh Robles (right) watch as Mayor Marsha Swanson passes the microphone to Senator Jeff Stone's Chief of Staff Glenn Miller, while Congressman Ken Calvert's representative Brenda Dennstedt looks on. 

4. Library Update 
5. Animal Shelter Update 
6. Reality Rally Presentation

To get the details from presentations 4, 5 and 6 please watch the video at the bottom of the blog starting around the 20:00 mark.

Consent Calendar item 1.5 Measure AA Citizen’s Oversight Advisory Committee

To me, this was the key news from the meeting. 

The city is looking for five interested residents to fill this committee. I'll add language from the agenda packet so you'll have a clear understanding of what this committee is. 

ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

A. The responsibilities and duties of the Committee shall be limited to:
1. Review expenditures of Measure AA revenues to ensure the monies have been expended in accordance with the authorized purposes of Measure AA. 
2. Understand allowable expenses of Measure AA monies, which is a general purpose tax.
3. Understand municipal revenue collection and distribution from local, state and federal sources.
4. Prepare and submit to the Chief Fiscal Officer of the City an annual public report on the expenditures of Measure AA tax revenues for the previous fiscal year. The Chief Fiscal Officer will then submit the public report to the City Council per Government Code section 50075.3.
5. Receive and review the independent auditor’s report as required by Section 3.22.050 for Measure AA revenues and expenditures.
B. The Committee shall not have any budgetary decision authority and shall not allocate financial resources.
C. The Committee shall have no authority to direct, nor shall it direct, City Staff or Officials.

For purposes of clarification, it is important to note that this committee is an oversight committee, much like the Measure Z Oversight committee. Because of this the committee will not have any oversight in how the monies are to be spent, but rather how the monies were spent, ensuring they were spent in accordance with Measure AA. 

If you'd like to be part of this committee, please email the city clerk and request an application. dlee@cityofwildomar.org

3.1 Update Participation in the Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) Program
When new homes are built, they contribute to the TUMF fund (Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee). The key to this agenda item was to shift the collection of such fees from the city, directly to WRCOG (Western Riverside Council of Governments).

By eliminating the two step process in the fee collection, it frees up valuable time for city staff to attend to other matters. There is a yearly audit that no longer needs to be prepared by the city, and WRCOG will not have to do their end of the audit at the 18 cities they service.

To read more about the TUMF fund/fees, use this link.

3.2 Ordinance Regulating Wireless Telecommunication Facilities in the Public Right-of-Ways

DISCUSSION:
Typically, the wireless carriers seek to install antennas and other equipment on existing poles in the public right of way, including street lights and utility poles. These facilities are called “Distributed Antenna Systems” (DAS) and are more commonly referred to as “small cells.” The proposed Ordinance (Attachment A) establishes permit requirements for the installation of wireless telecommunication facilities in the public right-of-way.

A streamlined permit is available for proposed small cell facilities that will be collocated on an existing pole in the public right of way. A standard permit is available for proposed small cell installations that require the construction of a new pole. In the unlikely event that a wireless carrier proposes to install a larger facility in the right-of-way, it would be subject to the established Wireless Communication Facility permitting process that applies to private property in the Zoning Code. Streamlined and standard permits would be issued administratively unless appealed.

Small cells that are proposed to be located on City-owned street lights or other poles would be exempt from permitting requirements under this Ordinance. To install small cells on a City-owned pole, each carrier would be required to enter into a Master License Agreement with the City that will govern the review and approval process for each installation, and include a license fee that the carrier must pay to the City for the privilege of installing its equipment on a City-owned pole.

It should be noted that on September 27, 2018, the FCC released a Declaratory Ruling and Report and Order entitled “Accelerating Wireless Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment; Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment.” This Declaratory Ruling limits local control over small cells in several respects. The Ruling imposes new “shot clocks” on the time a municipality can take to review applications to install small cells, limits the processing fees and license fees that municipalities can charge, and limits the scope of aesthetic review.

The Report and Order went into effect in late January 2019. Several cities across the country have filed lawsuits on the grounds that this Ruling oversteps the FCC’s authority, and those suits were consolidated and are currently pending in the 10th Circuit. Because the 10th Circuit has declined to issue a temporary injunction blocking the implementation of the Report and Order, this Ordinance was drafted to be compliant with the Report and Order. Depending on the outcome of this litigation, amendments may be needed to this Ordinance in the future.

City Manager Report:
There will be a meeting at the Lake Elsinore Cultural Center on Wednesday, April 17th at 6pm discussing homeless issues in the Wildomar/Lake Elsinore/Lakeland Village areas.

Future agenda items:
Joseph Morabito asked to strengthen code enforcement. 

If you watch the video, starting at about the 1:37:00 mark, you'll see that I need a ton of polishing still. 

I'm finding out that it's a lot easier being eloquent when I'm on this side of the keyboard, than that side of the dias. ☺

Bridgette Moore asked about a spay and neuter program (which had been brought up in the animal shelter update earlier in the meeting).

Ben Benoit mentioned wanting a letter to Caltrans regarding freeway safety in the Sedco area where there is no guardrail to keep cars from crashing down into the city. He also asked staff to prepare a basic report regarding commercial cannabis so that the council can take a look at and discuss from there.

This is where I'm handcuffed with posting my opinion (the Brown Act). I'd love to add more thoughts here, but it's best to wait until it officially hits the agenda. 

•                •                •

Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.
– Edith Wharton

Not sure where Ms. Wharton grew up, but in Wildomar Rap's world, it's more of a choice between regular and decaf... and decaf is NEVER opted for. (Maybe that's what she meant?)

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• City Council Meeting August 2018

The highlights of the meeting include: 

• The approval of the proposed one additional cent sales tax increase for the November ballot. (now it's up to you to decide)

• There are only four candidates (for three seats) for this year's city council elections. (unless someone shows up at the last minute)

• The city was given an award by WRCOG (Western Riverside Council of Governments) and Wildomar has made the next step in buying our street lights from the power company.

Mayor Ben Benoit displays the "Gold Award" plaque presented by WRCOG.

But the big impact of the meeting came from the seven Briarwood neighbors that spoke during public comments about the effects of a nearby homeless encampment on their neighborhood. (Briarwood is east of Kaiser off of Prielipp Rd)


• Becky Frederick mentioned that the troubles began about a year and a half ago. They've since started a neighborhood watch, have an active facebook page to communicate with each other, cameras, and residents that walk their pets in the early morning hours to shew away suspicious people. She added, "but we really need help in our Briarwood community."
• Kim McKinney talked about homeless guys harassing people at the hospital waiting room and in the Albertsons shopping area as if they owned the place.
• Paul Shield shared a story about a guy trying to enter his front door in the middle of the night (see edited video below).
• Chelsea Bachinski shared a compelling story about encountering the man from the attempted break-in, mentioned above, then called the police. The upshot of her story is that the Wildomar Police didn't get back to her for several hours, and by that time, the issue had been [somewhat] resolved by the Murrieta Police.

She added, "I don't know if it's going to take someone to be killed or to be attacked, but I'm a small individual that could possibly get hurt on my way to work (she starts very early in the morning) and I don't want that to happen."
• James Juco, a 20 plus year resident, told of how his mother-in-law's car had been stolen, then later found at the homeless encampment. In the car, they found stolen goods, credit cards, purses, drugs and she still hasn't had her car returned.
• Danielle Pedroso her mother was the victim of the car theft mentioned above, and she works at a dental office in the Albertsons shopping center. She talked about the homeless problem there, where they will often be sleeping in front of the office door. The account of how a homeless guy was washing himself in the flower bed near her place of business was galling, to say the least. 

She also related a story about some very suspicious, and dangerous looking, homeless people that had 
been at Denny's while she was there.

Councilmember Marsha Swanson jumped in, already apprised of the situation, and assured Danielle that Denny's management was working with Wildomar Police to prevent a recurrence.

• Colleen Wisdom told the council about the theft of tools from her husband's truck, and how the lock to the gate to her backyard was missing and the gate left open... which was worrisome since she has a pool. (the reason the padlock was not secured was to allow the pest guy access to the backyard that day)

At this point, Mayor Benoit broke with protocol and responded to the speakers. (For those that don't know, there are statewide rules that prevent discussion of matters that are NOT on the agenda commonly known as The Brown Act).

• "[Sadly] you're not the only group that has come in and complained about that particular camp, the industrial park just to the west of you, along the freeway, has also come in and explained to us that they are seeing rising theft and tracking it back to the same homeless encampment by the hospital." 

"That property owner has not been the most cooperative. We've had issues getting him to sign some letters to say "homeless people cannot be here" [...] he hasn't signed those letters to my understanding."

"He has also not been trimming the trees like some of you've asked. He'll tell you that he's not allowed to trim the trees. There are limits to the tree trimming because it is an environmentally sensitive area, unfortunately [...] of course they (the homeless) are down there trashing the area. You can't win with some of these state laws."

• "I want to come out and meet with you guys. Maybe an HOA meeting, I'd be happy to come, we'll bring Dan Anne, our police chief back there, along (pointing to where he was sitting in the audience)."

"We have a Coffee with the Mayor [event] and Dan Anne [too]; we just had one a couple of weeks ago and we have another one coming up. I encourage you to come there too."

— Wildomar Mayor, Ben Benoit

Wildomar Rap opinion time

Coffees are nice, but The Bean can't accommodate very many people. There are about 15,000 registered voters in the city, and if only one or two percent show up. That would be 150 to 300 people. Even one-quarter of one percent would be about 35 people. 

Yes, it can be a logistics nightmare to put together and fully advertise a town hall meeting, but that is the proper forum to discuss the homeless issue if you want public input.

Like it's been stated before, this issue is well beyond the scope of our city. It's a problem that has been created in the last few years by poorly thought out legislation and propositions. 

The kicker was Prop 47 which was allowed to be absurdly nicknamed The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. What a joke, it should have been called, The Destruction of Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. That gem passed with a 59-41 margin. 

I don't blame our officials for a problem that other people created. I see this as a difficult situation that will (most likely) only get worse before it gets better, but they need to remain on top of this and be seen as being proactive, even if most of it will only be for show.

These issues need to be headlines in a city-based newsletter, and discussed at town hall meetings, as well as be included in social media administered by the city.

I encourage you to watch the 22 minute video to get a feel for what the Briarwood community has been dealing with.

The only other meaty issue (Item 2.1) was the final approval of the additional one-cent local sales tax ballot proposal. 

For some reason, I thought it was going to be a long and drawn out matter, but it was over and done with... including public comments (2) and council discussion, in under 15 minutes. That item picks up at the 21:00 mark of the video below.

Public Comments: 
• Monty Goddard discussed his tepid support for the tax increase and that even with the increase, we won't be able to address [all] the needs of the city.

• Joseph Morabito (me), candidate for city council, supported putting the measure on the ballot, and encourages the voters to approve it... but understands if the voters are sick of tax increases and choose to vote it down. That if the city needs an increase in revenue, why continue to block the commerce of a legal commodity (cannabis)?

The only comment from the city council on the item came from Tim Walker. He talked about being a conservative, "I don't like taxes". That encouraging commerce and businesses in town was, "the way to do a city".  Then touched on differences between the county and Wildomar. 

Please watch the video (starting at the 30:45 mark of the video), I'm not really sure what his point was as he seemed to touch on many things. In the end, he was for putting the question on the ballot.

"I'm not a one cent guy, never have been, never will be, but this is a fact that the city has to take on and it's got to be the voters that decide it. My personal opinion is that I don't like taxes."

"I said from the get go, the only way you're going to make a city thrive, is by commerce, commercial businesses. But the people in our audience here, and people in this area sue everything. Stall everything, and cause nothing but grief in the city."

"Then everybody comes to us and says, "why can't you do this, why can't you do that?" well, there's your reason right there. If we're not fighting the lawsuit —perfect example, the Subway on Bundy Canyon. One business in a big complex. One! Because he fought that fight for a year, and still ended up paying for something that didn't even need to be done. It's over and over again in the city (the lawsuits)."

"All we can do as a city is make it easy for businesses to get here and get started and produce income, that's how you raise tax money."

"When it comes to the sheriff's, yeah, Riverside County has one to whatever —whatever the ratio is, of course they have that, but they have a lot of money too, besides what we have. [...] To compare us with the county, [that has] billions of dollars, and a small city with not so much, and fighting the fight, and fighting to get people to open here (businesses), to get commerce going, and collect income. That's how you do a city."

— Wildomar City Councilmember Tim Walker

Wildomar Rap opinion time

Tim, when it comes to your points about the city getting sued all the time... yes, welcome to cityhood. 

Pro Tip: ALL CITIES GET SUED at least as often as Wildomar does. If defending lawsuits is enough to derail a city from fully functioning, that should be a clear indication that the long ago naysayers of cityhood may have had a point after all... but we're here now.

Allow me to suggest that we add "We always get sued" to the list of things that none of us in town EVER want to hear again. The other key comment that needs to be sent to the showers is, "Governor Brown stole $12M from us." Those statements are about as pertinent as saying "Ralph Garr hit a home run in batting practice" (something that occurred in 1977).

Councilmember Walker wasn't part of the WIN committee, so maybe he doesn't remember their claims that becoming a city wouldn't come with tax increases.

That's why Monty Goddard was discussing the dismal ratios of sworn officers to residents in the city, and then comparing them to what unincorporated areas have in 2018. 

I believe his numbers were: 

In the county, they have 0.75 officers for every 1000 residents, and Wildomar has 0.54 officers for every 1000 residents.

Since no one on the council disputed Mr. Goddard's numbers, I take it that they are as solid as the rock of Gibraltar.

The video below is (HOPEFULLY) the last that I'll have to upload to keep my pledge of posting all the meetings until the city starts live streaming them... that's supposed to be in September... we shall see.

The other items on the agenda were things covered in previous planning commission meetings. The new sign that Inland Valley Hospital will be getting, and how the city will be dealing with EOTs (extension of time requests from developers). 

Both of those topics can be found at this link.

During the City Manager update, three things were shared. 
1) There will be an adult coloring group at the library on September 4th.

Come one, come all!

2) Astronomy Night is coming up: August 18th, at Marna O'Brien Park.
3) City Clerk Debbie Lee announced that there are only a total of four candidates that have qualified for the three city council seats (districts 1,3 and 5). 

The city clerk will be available tomorrow (August 10th) to accommodate any latecomers. Just remember, you're going to need to get 20 valid signatures to qualify, and if you're still considering a run, you're cutting it very close.

If there are no further candidates, that means Ben Benoit (District 1) and Marsha Swanson (District 5) will not face a challenger. That's really pathetic when you also throw in that Bridgette Moore didn't face a challenger in 2016, and for all intents and purposes, neither did Dustin Nigg in 2016. Why is there such deep apathy here?

It appears that the only contest will be in District 3.

 the matchup will be 
upstart challenger
Joseph Morabito

vs

longtime incumbent
Tim Walker

On your marks, get set, GO!

I have to give the smile edge to Tim, and his ability to balance his glasses on his head, but I think my beard gets the nod over his. Plus, check out my industrial strength forehead, not to mention that it's hard to go wrong with a lovebird as a sidekick.

•                •                •

One last note: Wildomar Marketplace will be this Saturday, August 11th, from 9am to 2pm. There was some doubt as to whether or not this was going to happen in Wildomar (something about ordinances) but due to the efforts of city councilmember Bridgette Moore, she was able to keep it in town; nice work. 

Now time to get that ordinance done, so something so basic doesn't have to be fraught full of grief along the way. 

UPDATE

Due to the fires, the Wildomar Marketplace had to cancel for August 11th. The next scheduled Wildomar Marketplace will be October 13th.

•                •                •

"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."
– Frank Lloyd Wright

Wildomar Rap is the first to point out that blogs are written with keyboards, not typewriters.

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• City Council Meeting February 2018

Between items 3.1 and 3.3 this meeting was full of detailed information. 

So much so that I'm just going to highlight the portions that caught my attention, but first let's start off with the recognition of two Eagle Scouts that came at the front of the meeting.

Noah Thompson's project dealt with the snack bar at Marna O'Brien park. He installed removable screens, that are now part of the health code, for the service windows. 

Back row: Tim Walker, Dustin Nigg and Marsha Swanson. Front Row: Bridgette Moore, Mayor Ben Benoit, Eagle Scout Noah Thompson, Katelyn Wilkinson a representative for Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez  and Glenn Miller a representative for State Senator Jeff Stone.

Nate Coddington's project was also at Marna O'Brien park. He replaced the wooden backstops on the baseball diamonds.

Back row: Tim Walker, Dustin Nigg and Marsha Swanson. Front Row: Bridgette Moore, Mayor Ben Benoit, Amber Diaz (Nate's mom), Eagle Scout Nate Coddington, Katelyn Wilkinson a representative for Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez  and Glenn Miller a representative for State Senator Jeff Stone.

PUBLIC COMMENTS (on non agenda items)
• Dave Crook (sp?) discussed speeding issues in the Lemon/Almond/Waite area.
• Brad Darymple brought up illegal dumping and off roading in the part of the city that borders Menifee.
• Ken Mayes (with donated time) had a slide show (literally) of things in town that he doesn't like. His list included home school inspections, fire hydrants, CSA 103 (an "assessment on 1084 homes located in the oldest part of Windsong Valley") which has "disappeared from the tax bill", the city fence code, the City Manager's pay, staff reports (in the online agenda packets) needing to include all the visual displays that will be at the meeting.

Wildomar Rap opinion time:

I'll have to try the slide show routine sometime too —looked fun. But in all seriousness, it was very effective to get the point across, about several issues, to all five city council members, and key staff members, at once.

Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that Kenny Mayes will be giving 6 minute slide shows at all the meetings from this point on. Might as well just cut out the middle man and make room for it on the agenda as a recurring item.

His final issue (about expanding the agenda packet to include all video display items) was brought up by Mayor Ben Benoit at the end of the meeting under "Future Agenda Items" where he asked staff to start including such items in the (digital) packets.

• Monty Goddard thanked city staff for the maintenance done at Windsong Park.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Before this part came up there was a change in the agenda and City Manager Gary Nordquist discussed the reason(s) why the new city website didn't launch before the end of January. 

"We encountered some delays," was the gist of the explanation. Mark your calendars for March 1st, which is the new target date for the switch over.

1.6
Monty Goddard spoke to this. This added a 12th holiday/floating vacation day, in perpetuity, to city employees (made possibly by the city getting the VLF funds returned from the governor). 

He noted that agenda item 3.3 also aims to reward city staff with a one time bonus of one vacation day for every year they "endured those dark fiscal days" (a quote from the agenda packet).

Wildomar Rap opinion time:

The Wildomar city staff has done a great job, especially considering those "dark fiscal days" and all, and a reward is in order now that there is the money to do so. 

However, let's keep in mind that public employees (whose salaries are public knowledge) aren't underpaid, even in our quaint little city. 

The fact that they didn't find themselves in the unemployment line, like many non public employees during those times, could have been considered a bonus in its own right.

I can see them getting either A or B, but both A and B?

I'm thinking that the extra holiday/floating vacation day was a pretty good attaboy on its own... but there I go again, always having had to earn money in the private sector, so I probably don't get it.

1.9
Ken Mayes attacked the credibility of ALS1 (who will be putting on the 3rd annual ALS1 5k on May 19th at Marna O'Brien Park — see flyer below). 

Hey Erin and Ken (the key local figures behind the 5K fundraiser), if there is paperwork that needs to be finalized, I suggest that you put that on your "do it yesterday" list. Otherwise, some wiseguy is going to look to shut down your event. 

I hear that there could be a beer garden there too... 
few things are as satisfying as a couple of frosty 
Saturday morning pops to get the weekend rolling along! ☺

As much as we hate it, red tape is there to protect the public from conmen looking to take advantage of the good nature of the public. That means everyone has to jump through the same legal hoops, even the good guys, to put on a fundraising event; especially one that is backed by the city.

Tangent Time

No doubt that is why the Original Christmas Tree Lane event (that was an annual event at the Lake Elsinore Outlet Center) is gone now. It was hosted by two local retirees that had no idea about the complex web of requirements the state has for such charitable endeavors. 

Blog about the demise of OCTL

Some "concerned citizen" suggested that the State AG look into the event... and that was the end of that, along with about $10K per year that got distributed to local youth orgs with the proceeds... but I digress.

3.1 Western Community Energy Community Choice Aggregation Program
This dealt with an energy scheme (in the British sense of the word) that would have the city join a JPA (Joint Powers Authority) to get their power from a newly formed CCA (Community Choice Aggregation), called Western Community Energy (WCE).

There was a slide show presentation that lasted about 10 minutes touting the benefits of joining WRCOG's brainchild.

A slide that tried to explain the CCA, and how the energy gets from them to you.

This only got more mind-boggling as the 25 minute presentation went on. Below is part of a slide that showed the proposed savings.

A lot of effort to save 2% to 4% if you ask me.

I won't sneeze at saving a couple of percentage points, but the large sums of savings (seen above) really won't be amounting to anything. 

My wife and I don't use a lot of power, but we'll still be celebrating our windfall of (up to) $40 a year in style.

Those numbers (~4% Savings in 10 years = $49+ million) come from adding up all the small savings of the rate payers, then acting as if there will be a large pool of money at the end of the rainbow.

Here are some of the takeaway facts.
•  Both cities and individual rate payers can opt in or out of the CCA at anytime. 
(I didn't hear anyone mention penalties for doing so, but makes me wonder if there are any. Usually if there are no penalties, that is specifically gone over).
•  The power would still be delivered to homes and businesses with the existing power grid, which is controlled by SCE in our area. 
•  The existing tiered rates would still be applied by Edison for delivering the energy, even though the rate payer would be buying from someone else. 
•  Start up costs range between $4M and $7M depending on number of cities joining, which will be covered by WRCOG.
•  If adopted, and things go as planned, they would start "serving load" by October of 2018.

Councilmember Nigg asked some basic questions to get the answers on the record. 
• Customers can opt out whenever they want, is that correct?
• Cost savings [mentioned in the presentation] are typical?
• The start up costs are covered by WRCOG?

To which "correct" was given as a response each time. The short exchange is in the 1:45 minute video below.

Wildomar Rap opinion time:

The "tiered rate" issue really got Councilmember Tim Walker exercised. His home is all electric and his bills are far higher than the average (from what I gathered). 

His point was, which seemed reasonable, is that if he uses more energy, he's already paying the additional costs for the additional supply, including the additional taxes that would come with it. 

He wasn't too happy about, what amounts to a penalty, in the tiered rate system. Especially if he were to be buying his energy from a different company, but still getting stung by SCE on the delivery side.

The video below is a snippet of Councilmember Walker asking about tiered rates, and then talking about wind cars and oil being a "renewable" energy source.

Let's create a scenario here.... Ah, how's this one:
You've been buying your chocolate milk from a venerable local dairy, but they charge you extra if you want more than 10 gallons delivered to you - tiered pricing. (Yes, it's preposterous, but stick with me...)

A different dairy approaches you (WRCOG or WEC - whichever it is) and tells you they'll sell you chocolate milk for about 2% to 4% less than the first dairy... but the first dairy (SCE) is still going to deliver it to you.

In the end, you're still using the tiered-price delivery services of the first dairy (SCE), and you're paying them like before too.

So, in conclusion, if you have high personal demands for chocolate milk (power) then it looks like you might want to buy your own chocolate cow (solar power at your home) and be done with either of the above options.

Another fun part of this agenda item was when Ken Mayes did his public comment routine and equated this JPA with the Animal Shelter "fiasco" of the past and made it clear that he wanted no part of the 2%-4% savings that would come from it, "I for one, will opt out, TONIGHT, from purchasing electricity from this JPA."

Good on ya Kenny, SCE will be glad to take your extra dollar a month.

This was just a "discuss and provide direction" item, and no action was taken, though it sounded as if SCE would be putting together a presentation of their own on the matter.

Since there seems to be savings to the rate payers, and an easy way to opt out if things change, I can't image the point of not exploring this further.

The thing I want to know is, if this is better than peaches and cream like it's described, then why aren't all the local cities beating a path to their door? Why the deliberation? Why does it sound like WRCOG would be sanguine if they could "amass five to six cities" when their organization has eighteen?

If you'd like to take a look at the 20+ slides, use this LINK and look for item 3.1 and click on it.

3.3 FY 2017-18 Mid-Year Budget Report
This item took an hour, in addition to updating where the budget stands, there was also lengthy discussion about what to do with the newly returned VLF funds (about $2.4 Million annually).

It was asked of the various departments for a wish list of sorts. The price tag came back at $6.9M worth of items.

Don't feel bad, this was difficult to read (due to small font size) at the meeting too.

All things on the list are either obviously worthy, or an argument can be made for them. It's just a matter of money.

Things ranging from additional police (a no brainer) to wobblers like a new kitchen for the fire house ($60,000), and head-scratchers like a $60,000 video package to be able to start live streaming the city meetings (all approved).

There was a lot of discussion, so I'm going to include the video of the entire item. It begins with City Manager Gary Nordquist discussing the various spending options proposed and other aspects of the item (about 28 minutes worth). 

From there went the public comments, council discussion, input from Fire Chief Todd Philips and Police Chief Daniel Anne, more discussion and then the vote.

At one point Councilmember Nigg balked at the idea of spending $60k on remodeling the firehouse kitchen.

"I just can't see the justification there. I've read through the staff report. I would [want to] line it out and apply it (the $60K) to [other things]. I just can't justify taking $60 grand for a kitchen when we have roads that don't work that well." 

Chief Todd Philips came to the podium to elaborate on the needs of Station 61. For those interested in more details there, check out the video and jump to the 33 minute mark where the councilmember starts the topic.

The list of recommendations was unanimously approved by the council. With the addition of $4000 per year for TIP (Trauma Intervention Program). The entire agenda item is covered in the video below.

My favorite quote came from Councilmember Marsha Swanson. It was in reference to the additional $2.4M to the budget:

I think that Gary [Nordquist] has lead us well.  He's kept us in line all this time, and just because we feel like we've got some money —that's just a feeling we have, we don't have any money. We're not even back to where we were, so I think we need to start off slow. We're going to look at this throughout the year. If there're some ways we can add some other things, I'm all for adding a motor officer... I just think we need to stay within his recommendations, that we need this reserve cushion. None of us knows what's going to happen tomorrow, or what we might need [...] and if we don't have reserves, and we aren't fiscally conservative we're not going to get anywhere. We've got time, let's just take baby steps to start with and go with the recommendations.  

I wanted to ask about the $60,000 for video stuff. 

I know this guy that does video, and thinks that number is about 10 to 20 times too high. 

I obviously went into the wrong business. I should have aimed to be a government contractor.

Thing is I didn't fill out a speaker card, and there wasn't a solicitation of the audience if anyone else would like to speak before that part of the meeting was closed, so I'll just opine here instead.

Wildomar Rap opinion time:

We've NEVER had live video of the meetings, and I don't get the point of going from Zero to Cadillac (maybe I should say 'Tesla' so the younger generation will get the reference) all at once. 

I've heard that it's got a lot of bells and whistles. That'll be good news to the 11 people that will be utilizing it on a regular basis.

At $18,000 a year to operate, it had better whistle!

Seriously, do the math ($18,000 ÷ 12 months is $1500 per month). 

After the overpriced equipment is purchased, the city is planning on paying $1500 a month to operate it (though the graphic above says $3,000 a month). 

Even if the city meetings take up 15 hours a month, which they probably only take up about 5 total, that is $100 an hour. 

Am I still in Wildomar? Are they trying to live stream city meetings or are they building a Hollywood set?

Without being too much of a joker, if you went down to Costco you could buy an eight camera HD security set up for under $400. 

Sure, it would cost money to have it installed and set up (apparently $20K is the going rate cities pay for such things), but with that kind of thing there's no reason why one of the city interns couldn't be taught how to turn it on, then switch from camera one (on the dais) to camera two (the podium) to camera three (the video display) and back. 

Such a set up might be underwhelming for bigger cities, but spending $60K for such a thing in Wildomar just reminds us, that no matter how noble the players, tax money is spent differently than how we spend our own money. Either that, or I'm just a cheap bastard that can get a lot of mileage out of lesser items.

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It was learned that two signature events in town will not be happening this year. First, the Rotary BBQ failed to get enough backing to make a go of it. It was scheduled to be at Marna O'Brien park on April 21st. In it's place will be a Astronomy Night event.

The other annual event that won't happen this year is the Bicycle Safety Event. Each year the attendance has gotten smaller and smaller. It's a shame. Those that did attend, really enjoyed it.

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"These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off, and security, on top of working fewer hours. They can thrive even in a down economy."
– Mort Zuckerman 

Wildomar Rap wasn't shrewd enough to consider a gubment paycheck when younger, and now the gravy train is full up.