by Scott Hettrick
The Arcadia City Council recognized 2009 Rose Queen Courtney Lee of Arcadia this month, along with her court, which includes Princess Lauren Valenzuela, also of Arcadia High School (see video below, followed by kudos to City staff).
Get the Flash Player to see this content. Also deserving of recognition at that and every Council meeting, were the City managers and staff, who were once again impressively prepared and handled every issue from Waste Management service to budget changes for Meals-on-Wheels with great aplomb.
Although I don’t attend many Council meetings and I can’t watch them on the City’s cable television channel because I’ve been a satellite TV subscriber since the mid-1990s, I spent many years in other cities and states covering meetings of City Councils, School Boards, and other government and civic organizations. So, I know the difference between good meetings and bad meetings, and I can recognize a knowledgeable and well-prepared staff.
Arcadians should be proud of their City staff, beginning with City Manager Don Penman, and including Assistant City Manager/Public Works Services Director Pat Malloy, Development Services Director Jason Kruckeberg, Deputy Director of Development Services Phillip Wray, and all the others who work with them. They impress me each time I attend a meeting, as I did on January 6.
Following the presentation to the Rose Court by Mayor Pro Tem John Wuo (click video at right), the Council moved on to agenda topics that included the City’s need to either increase its annual donation to the Meals on Wheels program – administered in town by the Red Cross – from $4,000 per year up to $10,000 per year (and cut $6,000 in funding to other non-profit programs), or cut the $4,000 MoW funding altogether. The City has already cut MoW funding by nearly 50% in the past few years. The arcane reason for this issue had to do with a new stipulation by an entity that provides grant funding for such City expenditures.
City managers clearly explained the nuances and technicalities and answered several questions by Council members and Red Cross executive director Bob Dayo. After Staff offered multiple options and alternatives for the Council to consider, the Council ultimately and reluctantly approved cutting the $4,000 contribution as of this summer but agreed to try to work at least that much or more into the City’s new general budget later this spring.
One of the next agenda items was consideration of a fairly major shift in the City’s waste disposal service. Under the new long-term proposal, Waste Management would shift from sending trucks to collect trash five days a week to only one day each week — on Wednesdays. There are many elements to this proposal that has been hammered out by WMI and City Staff over a period of time, including a significant net reduction of more than a dozen weekly trash truck trips through the city, a $100,000 fee paid to the City by Waste Management, free waste removal service provided to the City, and numerous free and fee-based options for residents relative to size and number of waste containers.
City staff not only presented a thorough report, complete with analysis and price and service comparisons to other cities in San Gabriel Valley, they were quick with valid responses to questions ranging from why certain cities were not included in comparisons to how cost percentage projections would change if certain assumptions in projected inflation rates and gas prices were to change significantly in the coming years. The Council opted to delay a decision on this until a little more study could be done.
While one would expect Staff to make a strong presentation and be prepared to answer a certain number and level of questions, it would not be at all surprising for staff to admit to not having answers at their fingertips to some highly theoretical or off-the-wall questions, but that never happened. Every question was answered fully.
Equally as impressive and comforting, it was never just the individual staffer designated to make the presentation who had the answer; their manager/supervisor and City Manager Penman all weighed in with comments to most questions that clearly indicated they were all very well informed and knowledgeable about the minutae of all of these matters.
Council members and residents may disagree over a specific approach to be taken on issues facing our City, but we can thank, take comfort, and be grateful for City managers and staff who are thorough and diligent in their work and consistently provide all of us with the accurate and detailed information we need to make our decisions.