Government - Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, etc. RSS Feed

Los Alamitos Scores Partial Victory In Trash Contract Lawsuit

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:17:00 Pacific Time

The City of Los Alamitos and a City Council majority yesterday were handed a significant partial victory in the ongoing trash contract lawsuit.

Seal Beach Names Insider Jill R. Ingram New City Manager

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 10 May 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

Accompanied by praise from each member of the Seal Beach City Council and applause from the public gathered at last night�s council meeting, City Attorney Quinn M. Barrow kicked off the meeting by announcing the Council had hired Jill R. Ingram as the new City Manager. Barrow reported the council voted unanimously in favor of hiring Ingram, who has been serving as Acting City Manager for the last few months. The previous City Manager, David Carmany, resigned last year. Ingram served under Carmany as Assistant City Manager.

Seal Beach Update From Ellery Deaton � Budget, Old Town Parking, Pier Restrooms, Dwp Property, New City Manager

No Author — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:51:00 Pacific Time

The City Council and the staff have worked together for the last couple months to cut expenses and balance the budget while including citizen requests for expenditures and suggestions on savings. Jill Ingram, the Acting City Manager and her staff are to be commended for their hard work, long hours, and thoughtful approach to budgeting so that we have been able to keep our services at the same high levels to maintain our quality of life as the budget was reduced over last year's by $2.2 million. The budget is scheduled to be put before the City Council for approval at the City Council meeting of June 13th.
Now it will be up to the Department Heads to live within the established budget and up to the Council not to authorize non-emergency budget amendments. We will be reviewing the budget again in February to be sure we are living within our means and to make adjustments as needed.

Rossmoor Property Taxes Not Enough For Police Services

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

Merge Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Rossmoor into a supercity; expand latent powers for the Rossmoor Community Services District; combine Cypress, Seal Beach, and Los Alamitos police departments; contract with OC Sheriff for law enforcement - it all comes down to money. So, OC180NEWS decided to take a look at the property tax part of local government finance. We wanted to see how much West OC people pay for property taxes and how much of that money comes back to the local jurisdictions.

Emotions Erupt At Seal Beach City Council Over DWP Property

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

The businesslike civility of recent Seal Beach City Council meetings took a leave of absence last night as members of the public expressed their outrage over the recent deal for the DWP property. A series of disgruntled residents came to the microphone to chastise the council for selling the city short on the agreement to end the mutual law suits between the property owners and the city.

Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress City Officials Attend Non-Meeting On Consolidating Police Departments

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

Two city council members and the City Managers from Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Cypress will gather today at noon at Los Alamitos City Hall. �It�s not a meeting,� Seal Beach Mayor Michael Levitt told OC180NEWS. �It�s just a couple of city managers and councilmembers getting together for a discussion.� The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the idea of combining the police departments from the three cities.

Open Seat On Rossmoor Board As Conflict With County Continues

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:00:00 Pacific Time

At the Tuesday night meeting of the Rossmoor community services district board, one board member resigned, the public spoke out on changes in Rossmoor governance, a public opinion survey was presented, and a date for a public hearing on expanding the board�s authority was set. Meanwhile, over at the local agency formation commission, chairman and county supervisor john Moorlach remains opposed to expanding the authority of the Rossmoor board.

Merging Seal Beach, Rossmoor, And Los Alamitos - Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach And The Super City Idea

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:20:00 Pacific Time

Monday night the Seal Beach City Council voted unanimously to send off a letter flatly rejecting the idea of combining Seal beach, Rossmoor, and Los Alamitos into a so called super city. Without the city councils of both cities approval, the concept doesn�t have much of a chance. Nevertheless, Orange County District 2 Supervisor and Local Agency Formation Commission, LAFCO, Chairman John Moorlach continues to push the concept.

Police, Fire Chiefs Say Freeway Construction Will �Impact Response Times�

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

With the traffic disruption caused by the West County Connectors freeway construction project looming just a few days away, the emergency services chiefs have publicly expressed their concerns. Both the Division Chief from Orange County Fire Authority and Seal Beach Police Chief Kirkpatrick presented their plans, and their concerns, at last night�s Seal Beach City Council meeting. The major West OC closures will begin to really hit home when the 7th Street bridge closes next Monday, April 18.

Seal Beach City Budget Public Process Starts Tomorrow.

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:10:00 Pacific Time

Amid declining revenues and a more open public process, the City of Seal Beach launches its fiscal budgeting tomorrow. So far, Seal Beach has managed to bypass the typical belt tightening caused by the Great Recession. But the fiscal times might be catching up with the beach city.

Rossmoor Board President Fires Back At Los Alamitos City Council

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

The President of the Rossmoor Community Services District Board, Jeffrey Rips, fired back at Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem Troy Edgar for his attack on Rossmoor during the March 21 City Council meeting. During that meeting, with Mr. Rips sitting a few feet away, Edgar launched into a tirade in which he severely berated the RCSD Board. At the end of that agenda item the Los Alamitos City Council voted to send the RCSD a letter requesting participation in the public opinion survey. See related articles below for OC180NEWS reporting on the back story. Below is the text of Rip�s response to the Los Alamitos�s letter and Edgar�s comments at the city council meeting. Following Rips� letter is the letter from Los Alamitos.

Time To Re-Draw The Lines?

No Author — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:34:00 Pacific Time

By John Moorlach
Chairman of the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission

(Editor�s note: Mr. Moorlach is also the Second District County Supervisor. OC180NEWS has written extensively on these subjects, so don�t miss the related articles at the end of this report.)

New Homes Coming To Old Town Seal Beach By Next Year

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

With developer Bay City Partners and the City of Seal Beach agreeing to end their various law suits, new homes could be coming to Old Town Seal Beach as early as the end of next year. The spokesman for Bay City Partners, Edward Selich, gives credit to the new city council for finding a settlement, ending the costly litigation, and moving the plan for the long vacant prime ocean/river front land forward.

Survey Says Residents Opposed To County Plans For Rossmoor

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:00:00 Pacific Time

The little public opinion survey that could � or couldn�t � depending on your perspective was made public last night in Rossmoor. This is the very same survey which Supervisor John Moorlach and Los Alamitos City Councilman Troy Edgar both condemned before it saw the light of day. Probably to the surprise of almost nobody, public opinion is not supportive of the direction both the County and specifically Supervisor Moorlach want to go with regard to governance of unincorporated Rossmoor.

Seal Beach Settles With Dwp Property Developer� Ends Costly Court Battle

No Author — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:26:00 Pacific Time

Tonight the City Council approved a settlement agreement with the DWP owners. This settlement is the conclusion of the Council's negotiations with Bay City Partners for the last couple years.

Los Alamitos City Council Attempts To Derail Rossmoor Plan For Police Powers

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:00:00 Pacific Time

In a bizarre series of events last night, and with the President of the Rossmoor Community Services District sitting right in front of them, the Los Alamitos City Council began by insulting the RCSD elected Board of Directors, and then condemned the RCSD public opinion survey without reading it. Next, even though RCSD President Jeffery Rips was sitting only a few feet away, the city council refused the Rossmoor representatives a chance to speak, and then voted to send them a letter asking to join in the public opinion survey.

Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs Funds Rossmoor Public Opinion Survey

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:00:00 Pacific Time

With Orange County pushing to rid itself of unincorporated islands, there is almost no doubt that governance of Rossmoor will change, but public opinion about the direction of that change is not exactly obvious. Thus, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, AOCDS, the deputies� union, has volunteered to fund a professional public opinion survey to find out what the residents of Rossmoor actually want.

Rossmoor Calls For Grand Jury Investigation Of Orange County

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:00:00 Pacific Time

Amid increasing talk of annexation, rumors the county is contracting with Los Alamitos to provide police services, and a concern Orange County is planning Rossmoor governance changes without local control, a call arose for a grand jury investigation.

Los Alamitos Pushing Plan To Use Financial Reserves To Slow Traffic On Los Alamitos Blvd.

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:00:00 Pacific Time

The City Council of Los Alamitos continues to promote its downtown revitalization plan despite budget, traffic flow, and public input concerns. Even though the financial belt tightening from the Great Recession remains a major concern for cities and even though the street involved is pretty congested during morning and afternoon school rush hours, the project would use over $2 million of the city�s financial reserves and is intentionally designed to slow traffic on Los Alamitos blvd. between Katella and Cerritos Blvd.

Supercity � Combining Seal Beach, Rossmoor, And Los Alamitos � What Do Community Leaders Think

Dolores Barr, Editor and Publisher — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 08:00:00 Pacific Time

The idea of combining Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Rossmoor into a �SuperCity� is not new, but there seems to be an increasing momentum around the concept. Orange County District 2 Supervisor John Moorlach is one of the powerful voices hailing the notion. His support of the idea is hardly news, but in this exclusive report, OC180NEWS reports the quick thoughts of some of the key leaders who could potentially make it happen � or prevent it from going anywhere.