They cannot all agree on a "motherhood and apple pie" feel good statement, but they could do something our elected officials in Washington DC or Sacramento could not manage--they passed a budget measure with a unanimous vote.

Faced with a projected budget deficit of about $600,000 (a little more than 5% of the total), the City Council made a number of budget adjustments at Tuesday's (February 17) meeting. The budget reductions were necessary because of a drop in sales tax revenue and lower receipts from permits and fees. The mid-year updated projected total sales taxes are 10% lower than the prior year, verses the 5% reduction which had been forecasted when the budget was first adopted last summer. Building permits and fees are also coming in well below budget. Interim City Manager Nita McKay attributed both shortfalls to the national economic recession, the full force and affect of which was not well known last year when the budget was adopted.

These budget reductions are for the fiscal year which ends on June 30, 2009. Since many of these budget balancing adjustments rely on fund transfers and one time savings, creating a balance budget for the fiscal year which begins in a little more than 3 months, will be even more challenging. Consistent with City Council direction, the budget reductions do not involve any layoffs. The labor savings come from unfunding some vacant positions and reducing the hours of some part time staffers.

The public will probably hardly even notice the reductions. There will be two fewer concerts in the park and a private organization will take over the City's annual Easter Egg hunt. Some of the budget balancing items will come from inter-fund transfers. This is possible because the Gas Tax fund and the City's Technology fund have surpluses which can be used by the General fund. Mayor Grose indicated a strong preference for avoiding using any of the General fund's undesignated reserves, but the fund transfers do rely on utilization of surpluses in the Technology and Gas Tax funds.

While the Council acted deliberately and unanimously with regard to the budget items, that was not the case with Some other legacy issues. The motion by Council Member Edgar, entitled "A New Vision for Los Alamitos 2009” Agreement/Covenant, for the second time in as many months, was approved on a 4 to 1 vote. Edgar brought this item forward for the second time because Council Member Mejia did not go along with it the first time around. When this item was first voted on at the January 5 meeting, Mejia voted against it because she did not have enough notice to consider it before she voted. She also indicated she was not convinced about the substance of the matter. At this Tuesday's meeting, she again questioned the issues.

Mejia expressed concern about the degree to which the Council is already complying with some portions of the Covenant. She specifically questioned the element of the covenant stating "Elected Officials should never flaunt their position of public service". She cited prior examples where she did not believe that Council actions were consistent with this statement. She also questioned the Covenant's statement which reads "We resolve to avoid all appearances of improprieties". While expressing support for this statement, She listed alleged violations of the Brown Act as examples of non-compliance with this provision.

In conclusion, Mejia said "I think it (the Covenant) is an essential idea it's just unfortunate that it appears to me as a facade for the community." Just as it was on January 5, she voted against the measure and it passed 4 to 1. Council Member Edgar thanked her for her comments, and things sounded fairly friendly.

That is, until they moved a little further down the agenda. At this meeting, as has been the case at every other meeting of this new Council, certain legacy issues are continuously resurfaced. In addition to public speakers, who are also previous Council members and other members of the public, some of the dialogue among current Council members keep these legacy issues alive.

These legacy issues are either very important for reasons not yet clear to your Editors, or, according to Council member Edgar, are a "waste of time". The fireworks of the meeting came during a prolonged discussion of a few issues regarding the previous City Manager. After Edgar chastised the Council for spending too much time on these legacy issues, saying AT what time do we as a Council stop doing this, looking back, look, there's a lot of bitterness in the community...we're jus wasting time", Mejia attempted to regain the floor, but Mayor Grose would have none of that and between him and Edgar, they cut Mejia off and called for the question. The good news is that they did not need to call in the PD to calmed things down.