• City Council Meeting December 2017

The last regularly scheduled city council meeting of 2017 didn't have any surprises, but will be known for having beaten back Stonehenge of Wildomar... I'll highlight that where it came up in the meeting.

PRESENTATIONS 
1. Holiday Decorating Winners 

A montage of the three category winners.

1) Griswold Category: 25011 Cinnabar Court
2) Traditional Category: 35690 Woshka Lane
3) Judge's Recognition: 21504 Coral Rock Lane

Plug those addresses into your GPS and be sure to drive by and take a look. There are quite a few spectacular displays throughout Wildomar to be seen this year. Don't miss them. 2. Stan Smith Planning Commissioner Plaque 
It's hard to believe that it's already been four months since all around good guy Stan Smith passed away. The city presented his son, Kevin Smith, with a plaque for recognition of his contributions to the city of Wildomar. 
3. Five Year Employee Pin – Matt Bassi
Matt Bassi hits a milestone with Wildomar and is presented with a five year pin.

4. Miss City of Wildomar 
Jessie Taylor spoke to the crowd as Mayor Walker looked on. Her ultimate goal is to compete for Miss America.
PUBLIC COMMENTS (non agenda items)
• George Taylor spoke about the worsening conditions of Bundy Canyon. 
That is one horrible road.
• Glenn Copple thanked the council on behalf of the youth of Wildomar.
• Scott Scharpen (sp?) pastor at Rock Valley church and a ministry called gomobileforlife that offers free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to women. 
• Ken Mayes spoke for 6 minutes (with donated time from Martha Bridges). He talked about the dismal condition of the city's current website. 

WR Notes:

The website issue has been ongoing for quite awhile.

There is a blog from March of 2016 that quotes Janet Morales as saying they hoped the new website would have been completed last December.

Link to Blog covering the topic

Just like the live streaming, the city website is something that should have been given more importance from the get go. 

I'm sure there are a ton of reasons why the city's website has been so poorly run over the years, but none that couldn't easily be refuted. Sorry city fellers, but them is the facts. 

Much of the second half of Ken's comments were directed at Wildomar Rap... but of course not by name.

Normally I'd just ignore this, but this is too fun to let go by the way side. 

He seemed to take umbrage with my assessment of Kathleen Hamblin's outrageous claims, at the most recent planning commission meeting, that the city was trying to somehow keep the populace in the dark about the inner workings of the city by not live streaming of meetings.

Seriously? Do you think that the city council is the yard duty, and that you quoting things to them is supposed to get me sent to time out or something?

His quotes and misquotes only proved the original point I made. They bent the truth (commonly known as lying) to make a point. They were called out on it, and then didn't like being exposed. Bummer man. 

Part of the accusation was that I'd never even spoken to Kathleen before. Probably not. However, when her new bestie is Martha "Park Slayer" Bridges (sitting side by side and chatting throughout the meeting) connecting the dots is child's play.

Who doesn't love to play dot-to-dot?

Kathleen, if you'd like to talk sometime, let's do it. I'll be at the Breakfast With Santa event this Saturday, and would enjoy saying hello to you. Heck, the city council and many of the staffers will be there too. 

More WR Notes:

My favorite part of his diatribe was when he said that Wildomar Rap used "Gestapo tactics".  

Let's do the math here. 

I go to city meetings and city events and I write about what I saw... from my perspective. (This has NEVER been a secret)

I have a facebook page that allows comments, and I answer nearly all of them. Same for this blog. I allow comments, and I respond to nearly every single one of them. 

"Gestapo tactics" is childish, and typical of what a worn out intellect comes up with when faced with a different point of view.

• Kathleen Hamblin talked about the need for live streaming of city meetings.
• Mason Ballard showed off his festive sports coat and talked about his wife Lisa being elevated to president of Wildomar Little League.
• Miss Miller sang for the council before getting into a diatribe against Christmas. I actually agree with many of her points about it. Her part starts at the 15 minute mark of the video.

3.1 Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez Update on State Issues
I've included the video of the good assemblywoman for those that would like to hear her assessment of things at the state level. 

There were about 2000 bills signed into law this year.

As a non partisan myself, that has plenty of reasons to strongly dislike BOTH parties (especially the further out on the fringes one travels) I was stunned once I heard about Bill AB 1448 (Elderly Parole Program). 

It will allow convicted felons, that are at least 60 years old and have served 25 years, to be up for early release, no matter what crime it was that they committed.

This is what happens when we have one party rule for decades... Hey Liberal, are you really that enamored with convicted felons that you want them running around the community instead of behind bars? Shameful!

3.4 Temporary Storage of Brown House Cornerstones at Marna O’Brien Park 
Here's the skinny on this. 

The Wildomar Historical Society wanted to store some old stones (purported to have been from a local quarry) at Marna O'Brien park. 

City Manager dubbed the collection of stones as "Stonehenge". The moniker was picked up by both Mayor Walker and Councilmember Nigg during the discussion.

The area selected is across from the wheelchair swing (also known as the Freedom Swing). 

It seemed like a slam dunk, until the council started discussing it. It also didn't help their cause (WHS- Wildomar Historical Society) to be a complete no show at the meeting.

This item, like many other agenda items dealing with the Brown House over the years, took FAR TOO LONG, but ended up getting voted down anyway. 

At first it appeared that it would get tabled until more information came in, but the Mayor made a good point when he said, "Let me ask you this, who want's it in the park?"

Marsha Swanson said, "I just think what we're seeing there is not pretty. If there's something they (WHS) really want there, they could show us how they could put it together there and what kind of plaque they're going to put up [...] or take them somewhere else."

Dustin Nigg made the motion to deny, but that led to more discussion. Which led back to the Mayor's first point about wanting it in the park or not.

It was a 5-0 vote to deny.

I don't understand why members of the Wildomar Historical Society don't just have them moved to one, or more, of their own rural properties. It made no sense to have a temporary pile of rocks at the park, even if the WHS was paying liability insurance on them.

As the discussion mentioned, "temporary" in connection to the Brown House can become a decade in a blink of an eye.
3.5 Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem 2018
This was a quick item. 

Mayor Walker nominated Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit for mayor and was voted in 5-0.

I was surprised when Dustin Nigg then nominated Marsha Swanson to be Mayor Pro-Tem... all along I anticipated that spot to be going to him. My guess is that it'll be his (if he wants it) this time next year.

2018 being an election year, makes me think that Marsha Swanson will be running again since she took the mantle of Pro-Tem here. Just a guess, but can see it coming to fruition.

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Don't be so humble - you are not that great.
– Golda Meir

The conundrum continues since Wildomar Rap is neither humble nor great.

• City Council Meeting June 2016

The newsworthy nuggets from the June city council meeting start with Administrative Analyst Janet Morales getting a five year pin. 

In addition to her duties at city hall, if you've ever been to a parks event, you have to thank her for helping them come to fruition.

Janet Morales (pronounced Jenette) showing her 5 year pin and Mayor Bridgette Moore.

Public Comments
These are on items NOT on the agenda.

• Kenny Mayes spoke about having the council chambers used as a second cooling station on hot days. Currently, the only one in town is at Lakeview Chapel.

•Miss Miller reminded people that the election is not over yet, then went into song about the virtues of being a progressive.

• Erin Hartley spoke about her experience with the ALS-ONE 5k held the Saturday before. They raised nearly $4000 for their charity.

The consent calendar is a merciful invention that consolidates many agenda items that don't need debate, into one simple up or down vote. 

However, a councilmember or —member of the public— can ask to have an item "pulled" so they can talk about it.

Public Comments on Consent Calendar items

• Miss Miller. No singing here, but a bit of back and forth with the council and I could have sworn she suggested that Bernie Sanders was going to fix the Brown House after getting funds out of the Cadmen [sic] Islands. Watch the video and you decide.

She also encouraged veganism and sent a zinger Councilmember Walker's way, comparing their relative sizes at the 0:40 mark of the video. 



• Kenny Mayes touched on the Freedom Swing's re-installation at Marna O'Brien park, and whether it's been properly certified/inspected yet.  

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2.2 FY 2016/17 Budget Amendments 
There has been a yearly hit to the budget based on reduced 
Gas Company franchise fee that is paid to the city. It's gone from about $58,000 per year to just $1600 per year.

There were also increases for fire and police services, as indicated in the image below.

It appears to zero out due to the debt payment to the county being eliminated by last year's AB 107, with a projected surplus of $9,400.

3.1 Planning Commissioner appointment

There had been six applications submitted for the open seat and Councilmember Marsha Swanson chose someone that has lived in Wildomar for 36 years, Kim Strong. 

She will be sworn in at the next Planning Commission meeting, and will serve out the term vacated by former Commissioner Gary Brown, which ends at the end of 2018.

3.2 General Election November 8, 2016

As city clerk Debbie Lee pointed out, elections normally go under the consent calendar. 

However, this being Wildomar's first City Council election since being forced to divide the city into districts, and her first "by districts" election in her 26 years as a city clerk, she wanted to go over the parameters.

Not all voters in Wildomar will be getting a ballot that has a city council race on it. Actually, most voters will NOT be voting for a coucilmember this year. Only districts 2 and 4, which are currently being held by Councilmembers Moore and Cashman.

Debbie Lee went on to explain that though Bridgette Moore is the mayor for 2016, the election is for a Councilmember, not a Mayor.

If you live in either district 2 or 4, and are thinking about a run for a City Council seat, starting July 18th you'll have two weeks to file the paperwork. 

As an aside, if you live in district 4 (Bridgette Moore's area) and are thinking about a run for City Council, allow me to suggest you have your head examined. 

Thanks to the misanthropy of some self styled community activists, the districts in Wildomar have become de facto safe seats for any councilmember that puts in more than a perfunctory showing.

After the meeting I asked Councilmember Cashman if he was planning on running and he didn't give me a yes or a no. 

He wants to cogitate on it a bit more. He mentioned that he's been active in the community for 35 years and hinted that maybe that's enough.

Many people do not know which district that they live in. Check the map below and find out.

Key to Districts

1. Ben Benoit
2. Bob Cashman
3. Tim Walker
4. Bridgette Moore
5. Marsha Swanson

City Manager Report

• There is a trail subcommittee meeting slated for June 20th. 

• Yellow Basket is said to be opening in mid June. 

•        •        •

Anyone can get old, all you have to do is live long enough.

— Groucho Marx

Wildomar Rap's misanthropy is reserved for active misanthropes.

• City's Internet Server Set For Upgrade

During the March city council meeting it was revealed that the city got a $39,814 grant from WRCOG (Western Riverside County of Governments). 

It's part of a BEYOND Framework Fund Program, which was launched last year by WRCOG..

The purpose of the program is "to provide local assistance funding to help its member agencies develop and implement plans and programs that can improve the quality of life in Western Riverside County."

This year's pie was $1.8M for the entire region.

The presentation to the city council was given by Administrative Annalist, Janet Morales (pronounced like Janette). 

Program funding can be used towards developing plans or implementing projects that meet the Economic Development and Sustainability Framework Goals. The City received approval on February 11th, 2016 to implement the following projects: 

• Enhance the current website or build a new website that is more stable, easily updated, informative, user and environmentally friendly, has the capacity to provide instant updates and enhanced automated services than are currently available. 
• Replace the current server which will expand our data storage capacity for even more online features. 
• Implement accounts receivable module to increase online payment capacity and reduce trips to City Hall. Funding is a non-matching 100 % reimbursable grant. The Project must be completed within 18 months of the signed agreement.

I had a chance to ask her a couple of questions about the project.

 WR:  What might the "enhancements" to the current website look like to the average Wildomar resident?

 JM:  The enhancements will be more information, more interactive, a better calendar than we have now. 

Right now we have a webmaster that has to update everything. With this new website, staff will be able to [make updates] so information will be up there quicker. 

Visually it (the city's website) will look nicer than it is right now. We'll have more photos, [reports of] activities going on. We'll have permit availability, and be able to take payments as well.

 WR:  In your presentation you mentioned replacement of the server, what does that mean, and where is it at the moment?

 JM:  The server, right now, sits in our server room on site. The current one we have supports our existing Eden system, which is what we use for permits, finance and code enforcement. 

Now that we're adding a new module, we're going to need a bigger server for more space. The server is the only one that is compatible with our system, so we need that. 

We'll also be able to store more information on our system, which will allow us to put more information on the website.

This was the image I got when I googled "EDEN System."

 WR:  I heard mention of an "Implementation of an accounts receivable module." Same question as before, what does that mean to the average Wildomar resident, what kind of changes come with these improvements?

 JM:  It's another addition component to our finance software. Right now we have accounts payable, where we process invoices and checks. 

Accounts receivable is being able to receive payments. This is a system that will help us track and do online payments.

 WR:  Are there any time tables when this will be started and completed?

 JM:  Our goal is to start in June, and be completed by December. 

•        •        •

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. 

— Confucius

If Wildomar Rap were an internet server, it would NOT resemble an AMC Gremlin or Pacer.

• Camp Out Night In The Park 2015

A great turn out for the 2015 Camp Out in the Park at Marna O'Brien Park.

The community enjoying a balmy Summer's evening before the show.  Photo courtesy of  Bridgette Moore. 

105 campers checked in, and it was estimated that 200 were in attendance for the movie, which was Penguins of Madagascar.

You can see the camper's tents in the background. Photo courtesy of  Bridgette Moore. 

Before the movie, the kids were entertained with various games by The Game Master, a popular part of many Wildomar events. Among the favorite games is the egg toss and the tug of war.

Can you see the egg that is midair in the picture above? 

The snack bar had two special treats.

In the evening, slices of Pie Nation's Pepperoni and BBQ Chicken pizza were being sold for $2 each (and they were pretty good size too).

The next morning, breakfast burritos from El Comal were had for $5 apiece. We got one of each, an egg and chorizo and an egg and potato. Both were great, especially with the salsa!

Mrs. Wildomar Rap, Grace Morabito, chowing down on an El Comal BB (Breakfast Burrito).

The snack bar was run by Wildomar Chamber of Commerce.

Our city officials were out in force as usual for this event. For the movie I saw City Council Member Tim Walker, Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore, and Mayor Ben Benoit. Also Planning Commissioners Bobby Swann and Stan Smith. Also there was EVMWD board member George Cambero, City Manager Gary Nordquist, City Analyst (I think that's her title) Janet Morales and parks man extraordinaire Daniel Torres.

Of those, Bridgette Moore, Janet Morales and Gary Nordquist all slept at the park... in separate tents of course. ☺

Thanks again to all those that made this event a success. The people of Wildomar appreciate your valiant efforts.

•      •      • 

Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business.
― Dave Barry

Wildomar Rap was the master at building forts from couch cushions, pillows, blankets and end tables.

• Movie Night at Windsong Park: Home

Max Capacity at Windsong Park to see the Dream Works picture "Home"

This was easily the largest crowd to attend a Wildomar movie since the parks reopening last year... even larger than any at Marna O'Brien Park. The estimates were 250 to 300 people. 

There were so many families in attendance. It was great to see so many kids at play in the peaceful setting of Windsong Park. Running around in the grassy area, playing on the playground equipment, using the basketball courts and one family playing a net-less volleyball game.

I'm thinking that next year's movie at Windsong might want to have a concessionaire too. ☺

The pictures don't make it seem as crowded as it was, but it was wall to wall people. Click the pics to see more detail.

A look from the screen towards the play area.

I was chatting with Bob and Margie Amos under one of the pagodas about a children's book she's written (spoiler alert: That'll be a topic for a future blog) and my back was to the screen. When our conversation was over I turned around and couldn't believe all the people I was seeing. I was asking city staffer Janet Morales, parks man Daniel Torres and sound guy Doug Gates how many people they thought were there and the consensus was close to 250.

Looking from the street.

Before I left I saw city council member Tim Walker and I asked him for his guess and he scanned the crowd for about ten seconds and put his guess at 250 also. Then he looked at the play area and revised it up to as much as 300. When I reminded him that the movie license was for 250 people, he smiled and said, "Well, we can't count kids under eight," with that patented Tim Walker laugh punctuating it.

Reminder that the next movie in the park is at Marna O'Brien Park on June 27th. The movie will be Penguins of Madagascar. It'll also be Camp Out at the Park Night too.

•      •      • 

When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.' — Quentin Tarantino

Wildomar Rap is neither a lender nor a borrower nor Laertes nor Hamlet .

• Wildomar Egg Hunt 2015

It was a brilliant day for Wildomar's annual Eggstravaganza Egg Hunt at Marna O'Brien park. People started showing up shortly after 8:00AM in anticipation of the first Egg Hunt of the day at 9:00AM for the 0-3 year old children.

In total there were four separate age groups for the kids. 0-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9+. Also, there were two times for each group. If a child missed it the first time round, or were very enterprising looking to score twice, they'd be able to hit the later time.

In total 14,000 plastic eggs were "found". Thanks to the sponsors which included Waste Management who had a truck out on display and  a table with some give-a-ways of their own as they were touting the virtues of recycling to all.

☺

There were donuts, milk, coffee and things along that line available at the snack bar, which was being run by Crew 332 (a coed group that is comprised of Boy Scouts and helpers). Crew 332 also provided a photo booth so that kids could have a picture taken with Peter Rabbit.

There was a Jolly Jumper, Face Painting and a Balloon Artist (you know, they make things like poodles or ninja swords) and the lines never abated for those once they started.

There was also a "wheel chair accessible" egg hunt for children with special needs. Today there was only one child that took advantage of it. I'd heard about this, but couldn't understand how it worked until I saw it for myself. In the video below, you'll see a snippet of this young man, and his parent's, quest for an egg.

Down below is a video that is a combo slide show and live action display of what today was about. You'll see several different age groups running around at top speed (I speed it up over 1000%) looking for eggs.... that are so plentiful that they would be harder to avoid if it were a race from one side to the other and the object was to NOT step on them. You'll see a sped up version of three year old Sunny Watkins have her face painted like a cat, plus a glimpse of all the people that came for part of the day in a couple of panoramic shots like the one directly below.

This looks much better in the video as I pan slowly from left to right. Or you can click on it to enlarge it.

I was asking the city manager Gary Nordquist his guess of the crowd and I think he underestimated it by a lot when he responded 400. Let's do some Wildomar Rap math here. There were 4 age groups times 2 egg hunts. There were easily 100 kids in each age group, and even if 80% repeated the process, that would mean about 500 kids came. I'm guessing that they didn't walk or drive themselves, so even if there were only 100 additional people, that would put it at 600. Still, I'm going to say there were closer to 700 from start to finish.

There were a ton of people that made this happen, but I'm going to single out Janet Morales as the linchpin that brought it all together. Though she'd been planning it for months, as crunch time got to the week leading up to the even, she was sick yet sallied forth and completed the task. Thanks for all the hard work!

If you missed this event, there will be another one next year. Go over to the city's website and sign up to be notified of such things with their "Stay Connected" Service. Click here.

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Peter Cottontail, Bugs Bunny and Roger Rabbit walk into a bar... They order three carrot juices, pay their bar tab then leave. The end. 

Did you seriously think I was going to post a blue joke about those fellas on this blog? Did ya? Come on man, cut me a break... plus, I couldn't come up with a better punchline in the time frame I had so I went the Anti-Joke route.

We at Wildomar Rap prefer pickled eggs made with eggs that were bought a month ago. Seriously, older eggs are easier to peel after they are boiled.

• Dog Park Reopens and an Owl House

Today Wildomar's dog park reopened. It was after a lot of hard work that was captained by Eagle Scout candidate, Mike Ames. There are two Eagle Scout projects that are aimed at helping the parks and I'm going to dedicate blogs to each of those soon (there are a lot of pictures that tell a good story).

Here is a before and after look at the dog park.

The park was in a dismal condition before the Eagle Scout project.

Such a difference after a lot of team work.

In addition to the dog park reopening there was a brief ceremony dedicating the newly installed owl box. The event was attended by school children from Wildomar Elementary, of which the owl box was a project.

A large crowd of eager students, teachers and parents were on hand.

City Manager, Gary Nordquist, says a few words about the park and the owl house. You can see Mike Ames, alongside Council Member Bridgette Moore at the right side of the picture.

Now that the owl house/owl box is in place, as Gary Nordquist put it,  
"if you know any owls looking for a nice place to live, just send them on over," 
which got hoots from the crowd. ("Hoots" —get it?) ☺











After the students went on with another part of their outing, Mike Ames called all the volunteers together and gave a heartfelt thanks to all those that made the project possible. Mentioning Janet Morales, among many, for making the project a reality.

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