• City Council Meeting July 2018

A very long meeting translates into a relatively short blog. 

There were only two key agenda items here, and only one of those came with any hint of controversy: the additional penny sales tax coming to the November ballot.

The meeting started with State Senator Richard Roth leading the packed house in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then went into a presentation where the city thank the Senator for his work in getting the long missing VLF funds restored to the city.

State Senator Richard Roth holds up the plaque honoring his efforts on behalf of the city. 

Three Eagle Scouts were recognized by the council, one project involved repainting the water tower at Marna O'Brien park. Please see the video for more details.

back row: Tim Walker, Bridgette Moore, Dustin Nigg, Marsha Swanson. Front Row: Brenda Denstadt of Congressman Calvert's office, Mayor Ben Benoit, Eagle Scouts Monty Donovan, Grant Manley, Noah Hendley.

The next presentation was a proclamation of Parks Make Life Better Month, and key city staff that make the parks hum took some time to pose for a picture.

Back Row: Tim Walker, Bridgette Moore, Dustin Nigg, Marsha Swanson.
Front Row: Janet Morales, Ben Benoit, Daniel Torres and Cameron Luna.

The Chief of Wildomar Police, Captain Dan Anne, along with city building inspector Martin Haeberle, gave a homeless update. 

In short, they were discussing the difficulties involved in tackling the issues involving homeless encampments and what the city is doing about it.

Wildomar Rap opinion time

It's real easy for those of us in the general community to get loud about the homeless encampments, and the degradation to the quality of life that comes along with them. I've been very vocal about it, and I've not met a single person that isn't upset about them.

The tricky thing is, what can actually be done in the State of California about it? Nearly nothing, considering the various laws and propositions that have been past since 2010.

So it's fine to be angry, and to remind the local officials about it as often as you'd like, but it's good to also remember that there is next to nothing that can CURE the problem. Bandaids, one after another, are about the only current remedy out there.

As it was pointed out by Captain Dan Anne, being homeless isn't a crime, and solicitation is a protected form of speech that can be controlled to a degree (where and when) but cannot have a blanket ban applied.

For the full (22 min) presentation, please watch the video below.

At this point, the city council meeting was put on pause while those in attendance were invited to get a slice of cake to celebrate the city's 10th birthday.

City Clerk Debbie Lee cuts the cake. You can also see some 10 year pins on the table too.

After the cake break, it was time for Public Comments on non agenda items. This was a long meeting, and it was determined that to save some time, all public comments were going to be reduced from 3 to 2 minutes (26 speaker slips had been turned in). That put a crimp in many people's well honed comments, but everyone rolled with it.

There were seven comments, though the seventh one came more than an hour later since the speaker slip got lost in the rest of the stack.
1. I missed the name of the first speaker; it sounded like Arleen Crossinelli, but the topic was homelessness in town and the negative effects on her business.
2. Eric Dye spoke about the impacts of homelessness on his business.
3. George Taylor thanked the council for the repairs on Bundy Canyon, and invited them to The Farm's 4th of July parade.
4. Miss Miller vowed to save the oak trees on Bundy Canyon, even if she had to tether herself to one of them.
5. Monty Goddard spoke about CSA 103 and the Cervera greenbelt and his dissatisfaction with how it was handled and the lack of communication from the city on it.
6. Ken Mayes mentioned several items including food truck ordinances, Malaga Park and the new multi-use trail on Grand asking about their maintenance. He asked about CSA 103, and when will it be determined that it will either be on the tax bill or not. PV Maintenance invoices for streets that don't exist and when will Coffee With a Cop return.
7. Joseph Morabito spoke about his candidacy for city council, and that he wants to see better communication from the city to the residents.

2.1 One Cent Sales Tax on the November Ballot
This item took up a lot of time between presentations, public comments, council discussion and the vote. 

I'll give the highlights, but all that you need to know is that if you're a registered voter in Wildomar, you'll be asked to decide if you're willing to pay an additional penny sales tax on goods purchased in town, or not, this November.

Public Comments
Of the seven that spoke, no one was cheering for a tax increase, but two were opposed, and the other five were good with putting the measure on the ballot. 
  •  Gina Castanon  
  •  Ken Mayes
  •  Monty Goddard
  •  Joseph Morabito
  •  Patrick Ellis
  •  Andy Morris
  •  Brad Nee
The police and fire departments each had a presentation illustrating the response times over the years, various resources and what it would take to provide better coverage.

It's stunning how much things cost in the world where public employee unions run the show.

I'll add the basic comments from each of the council members from their discussion time just before the vote to approve. Most were just about a minute long. Watch the video for the full discussion.

Of course no one likes taxes. [...] Andy Morris said it perfectly [as to] why we became a city, [it] was [for] local control. When we became a city, and point-blank [...] they said we could become a viable city, and no one knew that the next year we were going to go into a downturn (the Great Recession) that would totally affect us. no one knew that we'd have all those lawsuits, constantly. One lawsuit would be done on a Thursday and the next lawsuit comes in a Monday. Then no one knew the governor was going to steal $12M from us. So, in ten years we sure have overcome a lot of challenges. Like I said, "No one likes taxes" but this is something we need, and we need this going forward. We need this revenue, every year, going forward for the safety and the quality of life for all the residents.

— Bridgette Moore

To me it's kind of cut and dry. The people, the voters that live here will have the opportunity to decide if they want [the additional tax]. If they don't want it, cool, we'll figure it out another way. If it passes, I like the idea that it being a general tax [...] if the money's not spent correctly, then guess what, I won't get re-elected. That's the way it's supposed to work. 

If the citizens decide they don't want it, they don't want it. But I think it's prudent of us to spend the money [to put it on the ballot], have some kind of confidence that this will pass. 

— Dustin Nigg

I tend to agree with my other council members, nobody wants more tax, but it's going to be necessary for the voters to make that decision. 

— Marsha Swanson

Wildomar Rap opinion time

There are a couple of ways I can handle trying to transcribe the comments from Tim Walker below. The problem I run into is that he meandered on for almost five minutes, and seemed to be directing a portion of is comments at me.

Since I'm running for his seat on the council, it would be completely in bounds to highlight the things he said here, but at the same time, it could be seen as self serving and a cheapshot by some. So I'm going to refrain from exploiting them in this blog by NOT transcribing them. I'll just add a couple of his comments that pertain to the tax.

If you are interested in the rest of it, which if you're a voter in District 3 you should be, they begin at the 51:40 mark of the video and end at the 56:10 mark.

You watch it, and you decide if his comments speak to you or not.

I would never make a decision to put a tax on people —ever! So, my thinking is, that's why we put it on the ballot. 

I'm not for a tax, but I will put it on the ballot because if everybody wants it, then I'll be willing to pay the one cent, it doesn't bother me at all.  

— Tim Walker

Coming into this eight years ago, when I first got on this council, even then I knew we might have rocky roads ahead. When the state took the VLF out from underneath us, it put us on a really difficult path. We've just finally got that back, but we're $12.5M short, that we'll never get back any other way. 

I feel very strongly that this is a way for us to move that pendulum back the other way, and we've got to. 

— Ben Benoit

3.3 Ordinance regarding aggressive solicitation
This was the other key agenda item of the night. To get more details, please read the previous blog that previewed the agenda item. LINK

I don't know why I thought it would take more time than it did, it's not like it could be controversial on any level, but I thought bringing in a much needed ordinance that aims to address the homeless issues would take more time. 

Wildomar Rap opinion time

I want to thank the city for getting this step accomplished. Like it was mentioned above, we need to know that there is very little that can be done to actually solve the homeless situation in our area. Especially based on the rules of engagement put into motion by elected officials many levels higher than our local leaders.

I didn't render out a specific video for this item, it's in the "everything else" video at about the 1:04:00 mark.

•                •                •

Love is friendship set on fire.
– Jeremy Taylor

Wildomar Rap is confused as to why setting friendship on fire equates to love. I've seen such up close, and wouldn't concur.

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.

• Brown Signs, Wildomar Funding Restored

After some incredibly shady politicking, Wildomar has it's missing VLF funds restored to the budget. This came as part of some political wrangling/horse trading (commonly known as bribes and corruption outside the halls where legislative sausage is hand crafted to the point absurdity... AKA the real world).

Red arrow points to Wildomar mayor pro-tem Ben Benoit.

It took the passage of an onerous tax increase, on the backs of the driving-public, to get Brown to finally agree to give back Wildomar's money. This will be felt by way of increased gas tax (12 cents per gallon starting in November) and an increase in vehicle licensing (SB1), (including a new fee on electric vehicles of $100 per year, $65 for the rest of us). 

The bill barely got enough votes to pass, and Senator Richard Roth, along with 29 year old Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes, traded their votes for a bag full of goodies, which included the purloined VLF funds from four Riverside County cities being rightfully restored (Wildomar, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale).

After the signing. You can see a glimpse of Bridgette Moore on the far left.

Brown has long been punishing Riverside County for unfavorable vote totals of the past

It's a well publicized story, direct from the mouth of our state assembly member, Melissa Melendez, that Brown made it clear that his refusal to restore the money, was payback for the way Riverside County voted for him... or should it be said, voted AGAINST him?

Link to blog detailing Melissa Melendez's comments on the topic from 2015.

I asked Councilmember Bridgette Moore, who was in attendance for the event, for her take on the signing. 

"Today is an important day in Wildomar's history as Mayor Pro Tem Ben Benoit, and I were invited to watch Governor Jerry Brown sign Senate Bill 130. Which will annually restore the equivalent revenues lost June 29, 2011 when the Governor signed the bill which took away our Motor Vehicle License Fee Revenue of $1.8 million a year!" — Bridgette Moore

Here you see Ben Benoit shaking Governor Browns hand.
My apologies for the low definition images.
I'm just grateful that they were shared with me.

For those that would like a less opinionated version of this news story, please visit the Sun News and Review story on it at this link.

Below is ABC's clip on the story. Have to love some of the governor's characterizations. "I'm glad I'm going to give you a little more money that you can play with," and, "We're here for a lot of reasons, but mostly because the people of these towns have been neglected too long."
 

Whoa, thanks for the honesty there governor.

Here's just a random thought on the topic

Yes, we're glad to have that money back, so now the city will be able to finally get some breathing room. 

At the same time, $2M million dollars to the city isn't like $2M to you or me. If that money suddenly was in our bank accounts, it would be party city. Not so much when spread out over the needs of 35,000 people in 24 square miles.

But that won't stop the people from forming wish lists a mile long. Come to think of it, I have one to add to the list myself.

How about fixing the white vinyl fencing on Cervera in Windsong Valley... and let's not use the same contractor the next time, that did the Stevie Wonder style fix the last time.

Looks like someone never heard of a fence post level.

Imagine if a person in the private sector did this kind of work, no matter how nice a guy he is he'd never get another job in that town repairing fences. It's time to start demanding higher standards. I know that some people say "I don't wanna be no Orange County." Fine, but I also don't wanna be no Hooterville or Petticoat Junction neither.

•          •          •

"Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with."
– Stevie Wonder 

Wildomar Rap suggests working a little harder with what ya gots to work with all the same.

• Governor Brown to Give Back VLF Funds???

This isn't one of those April fool's joke blogs...

Hey everybody, remember that huge tax increase that the Sacramento Dems just rammed down everyone's throat?

The one that will be raising gas taxes and vehicle registration fees?

Link to a CBS News story discussing SB 1

Apparently there is a silver lining that came with that punch in the mouth. 

The pilfered VLF funds that Governor Brown took from the four newest cities in the state (all in Riverside County) in 2011, are reportedly about to be on their way back where they belong.

When asked for his thoughts on the possibility of getting the long sought after VLF funds back, Wildomar Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit responded, "I'm excited about our four cities to finally be treated equally like the rest of the cities in California. [But] I'm saddened that it comes with a $5 billion price tag for the state of California."

Wildomar is anticipating a yearly bump of about $2,000,000 to the general fund once this goes through.  

Roughly 22% of the budget.

I put in call to Councilmember Bridgette Moore and she echoed Benoit's sentiments. She added, "The way I understand it is [that] Brown has until June 15th to sign it, so it isn't a done deal yet."

I'm a bit surprised that Brown wasn't touting that carrot on the stick when he was in Riverside last week trying to sell his record tax increase.

Still, unless he aims to line item veto this, it's going to happen, and we will finally stop hearing about the annual "will he or won't he veto it" office pool.

Unless you're one of those lovers of tax increases, you may agree with my analogy here.

It's like being told that your dog just got run over by your neighbor, but at least he's finally willing to give back that lawn mower he borrowed five years ago.

It'll be interesting to see where this money ends up/gets used in the budget. Let's hope those that continually sue this city don't see another pot at the end of a rainbow to chase.

•          •          •

“I expect to pass through this world but once and therefore if there is anybody that I want to kick in the crutch I had better kick them in the crutch now, for I do not expect to pass this way again.”

— Maurice Bowra 1898-1971

Wildomar Rap hopes that governor Moonbeam is done passing this way for the rest of forever.

• Ortega Highway Closure: UPDATE

Anyone that uses the freeways during rush hour has seen the effects of Ortega Highway's closure. 

Commutes for daily drivers have gone from bad to worse as drivers try and navigate either the 15-91-241/55 morning nightmare or the 15-76-5 route through Oceanside.

There was press release from Cal-Trans telling us that, weather permitting, the road should be opened three weeks from today (February 21st?).

I learned about this from Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries' facebook post.

Earlier in the day I had heard on KFI radio that Riverside County was one of only 8 or 9 counties in the state not given emergency/disaster status and asked if I heard it correctly.

If you've lived in Riverside County for long, you've seen Governor Brown's hand in many things meant to tweak us for not voting for his tax hikes half a decade ago. 

To think that the news media made a big deal about "Bridge-gate" where the charge was that the New Jersey governor was said to have a hand in one bridge closing, in one area, for one weekend. 

In the meantime, the constant nose thumbing that Brown does to us goes on without any fanfare from the media. 

Noteworthy snubs include the yearly veto of vital funds for the four newest California cities, all in Riverside County.

Which leads me to wonder what Governor Brown may have up his sleeve when it comes to Riverside County's empty supervisor seat (4th district). The seat became open upon the death of John Benoit late last year.

By law, Gov. Jerry Brown has the sole authority to appoint John Benoit’s successor. 

If you remember the last time Brown was in this position, he intentionally appointed someone as supervisor (Chuck Washington) that was from the opposing party of the man that had left the post (Jeff Stone).

Leopards don't change their spots, and neither do geriatric partisans like Jerry Brown. I've learned to expect the worst when he's on the case and it involves this area. 

What did my rant about Brown have to do with Ortega Highway? Probably not much, but it was too obvious of a link to pass up noting. 

One astute Facebook user posed an interesting question on the Kevin Jeffries' thread. It was in reference to Riverside County's official request for disaster status.

That's a good question.

What good does Riverside's status have to do with getting a road that is in Orange County fixed? 

Here's to hoping that the three weeks go by quickly for all those impacted by the closure.

•          •          •

"The faults of the thief are the qualities of the financier."
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Wildomar Rap still is pondering over which of the two roles mentioned by Shaw, Brown most accurately fits.

• Brown Vetoes Wildomar, Again!

This was easy to predict, and most of us saw this coming a mile off. 

I boldly predict a five-peat next September.

The best recap of the whole thing was in a comment by RivCo Supervisor Kevin Jeffries in a reply to Mayor Bridgette Moore Facebook posting the news of the veto.

I asked councilmember Ben Benoit his take on this, and though it appears that there could be a glimmer of hope in the governor's remarks that accompanied the veto, he didn't put too much stock into it.

If this is an opportunity for us to get [the VLF funds returned] before the governor is no longer in office —great, but I don't know that's going to happen.

Councilmember Ben Benoit

The part that frosts me about Brown's prolonged obstinance on the matter is that he has no problem dishing out blindingly high sums to his pet projects. 

This happened just a few days ago, September 16th.

Then he has the temerity to suggest that basic operating costs for these four cities (Wildomar, Eastvale, Menifee and Jurupa Valley) "must be considered in the light of other budget priorities."

“While I commend Senator Roth’s tireless commitment to assist the cities, this bill requires the state to make additional and long-term general fund spending commitments. As such, this proposal must be considered in light of other budget priorities during upcoming budget deliberations.”

Governor Jerry Brown

Part of me feels that I have to take responsibility for this veto. 

During the letter writing campaign I called our esteemed governor a booger... and knowing his delicate self esteem, it most likely sent him into a tizzy and cost the four Riverside County cities a combined $24M a year. 

My bad.

•          •          •

Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job.

— President George W Bush

Wildomar Rap would like to hearken back to a classic suggestion from past LA Mayor, Tom Bradley: when it's brown, flush it down.

• City Council Meeting September 2016

This meeting was frontloaded with several presentations. 

It started with the flag salute led by the Sea Scouts.

Video Link Below.

The first presentation was of David A Brown middle school choir singing. It was such a large group that they assembled in the parking lot. They sang three songs and I captured the first one, Put On A Happy Face, on video.

Video Link Below.

  They did an outstanding job and brought many smiles to audience member's faces.

It was tough getting a complete photo of the group.
Thankfully Photoshop can stitch two photos into one.

Girl Scout Troop 90 was recognized for their Silver Award work at Donald Graham Elementary.

Girl Scout Troop 90 along with Mayor Bridgette Moore.

Boy Scout Troop 2011 was recognized for their bravery in putting out a fire while on a campout. No, not a campfire, but something that took a bucket brigade to extinguish. 

The entire troop came in, which made picture taking a challenge that even Annie Leibovitz would have failed... All kidding aside, nice job fellas.

The next presentation was recognition of Matthew Wolfslau getting his Sea Scout Quartermaster Project (akin to an BSA Eagle Scout Project). 

Mayor Bridgette Moore, from Congressman Ken Calvert's office Brenda Dennstedt, Sea Scout Matthew Wolfslau.

The Sea Scouts (SSS Integrity) along with Wildomar City Council.

The 4-H Club spoke about their club and upcoming fairs where they will be taking their animals to show.

Left to Right: Cindy Stinson community leader, Wade Walker  member and treasurer, Bryanna Stinson member and vice president, Aspen Walker member, Liddy Walker community leader and Mayor Bridgette Moore.

☺

The members of Elsinore Valley 4H will be auctioning their projects  at the Southern California Fair on October 8 at 10 am and would greatly appreciate the support of their community not only for their club, but for other 4H and FFA clubs in Riverside County. If you have any questions please feel free to go to socalfair.com or call Cindy  Stinson at 714-624-4148.

Click this link for video of EV 4H at the meeting.

Still on the agenda at this point were the Library Update, a proclamation about Constitution Week, and National Stepfamily Day (September 16), but this was almost an hour in at this point and I couldn't see straight anymore. 

Never fear, there was an impromptu presentation where Wildomar Police Chief, Captain Leonard Hollingsworth, pointed out one of his deputies that had been honored by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

Chief Hollingsworth pointing to a pin that this deputy received from MADD.

From here, the rest of the agenda started. 

Funny thing about that. There wasn't really anything on the agenda to speak of, and that's why the meeting was frontloaded with so many presentations.

Public Comments on non agenda items
• Kenny Mayes brought up municipal codes and Bingo, plus that many city events go under promoted.
• Miss Miller urged a vote for Linda Gonzales over "Mr. Riggs" (as she called Dustin Nigg) in the "5th district" (also wrong - it's district 2). Then she got on an anti-American rant and blasted US History, as if it was being done today. Had to love her blast against 12 term congressman Ken Calvert when she said he was "part of the Washington gangster machine." 
(I thought Hillary was head of that) ZING!

Item 2.1 was one of these things that I think is a waste of time, but has to be dealt with in an open meeting. It was about a small area of land being "annexed to community facilities district." 

There was no opposition from any of the concerned parties, but that didn't stop Miss Miller from using three minutes to discuss chemtrails and other such nonsense.

3.1 Tiny House Village Meeting
This was brought to the council so that they could approve a meeting that is to be held Thursday September 22 from 4:30-7:30pm in the council chambers.

Kenny Mayes spoke about how the meeting hadn't been well established, though it's been talked about since July. Also that the timing isn't good "even for retired people because that would interfere with chores and dinner".

(He has a point there, I wonder if it would be prudent to bring along a brown bag?)

He went on to conject about how the costs for the meeting were going to be paid. City Manager Gary Nordquist said the costs for the meeting would be $89 from the general fund.

At that point, Councilmember Ben Benoit pledged to pay the $89 out of his campaign funds, which put the issue to bed.

(There will be time for opinions about Tiny House Villages after the meeting is held.)

3.2 City Council Salary Ordinance
Wildomar city council members receive $300 a month. That's dictated by state law for General Law cities with populations under 35,000 (as opposed to Charter Cities). 

Earlier this year Wildomar hit 35,000 residents and that entitled the council members a hundred dollar a month increase.

I know that it's common to want to cut, cut, cut when it comes to government spending, but their current $300 monthly stipend doesn't come close to covering the out of pocket expenses our council members incur (at least most of them) while working for us.

They voted to amend the ordinance so that it doesn't take effect until the next fiscal year (July 1, 2017) instead of the first of the year.

Their next raise won't be until Wildomar hits a pop of 50,000. Our build out is somewhere around 55,000, and at current rates that would be between 15 and 20 years.

Below is the video of Item 3.2. In total, it's under five minutes long.

City Manager's Report 
We were reminded to join the letter writing campaign, urging Governor Brown to sign SB 817, that will return nearly two million dollars a year to Wildomar. 

Link to blog with sample letter and the address

City Attorney Report
We learned that a new law requires that anytime a head of department gets a raise, it can't just be mentioned in the agenda. It now also has to be mentioned verbally before a vote can be taken. 

Seems fair enough.

•          •          •

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.

— Brendan Behan , 1923-1964

Wildomar Rap has never been near a harem, much less worked in one.