Every member of the council is given assignments by the Mayor. One of mine is representing Monrovia to the Independent Cities Association. This group is made up of Los Angeles County cities that are full service, which is they have their own police and fire departments. Cities that contract with the county of these services typically belong to the Contract Cities Association.
ICA, or the Independent Cities Association meet twice a year to share information, network with other cities, gather support for legislation that important to cities and try to help each other in our common goal of providing service to you.
This past weekend our meeting was held in Rancho Bernardo beginning Friday morning and lasting until Sunday morning. The entire council went along with our new City Manager, Laurie Lile.
Friday morning was spent on three different sessions with a variety of services offered to cities from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, LASD. They offer the entire county services such as Bomb Squad, Arson Detail, a Response Team and a rather sophisticated Intelligence Center. It left us all with a strong sense that even though small departments can’t afford these; we all benefit and pay for these services.
Friday afternoon was spent with three programs on the catastrophic disaster in Japan and what we can do to prepare for the earthquakes that we all know will come. These presentations were not only from a law and order perspective but what cities and utilities have learned from that disaster.
Saturday morning started off with a presentation on the benefits in fighting obesity by have a safe alternative for walkers and bikers to encourage exercise. Several cities presented the plans they have in place along with a presentation from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.
The morning continues on with a presentation on post redevelopment abolishment and what to expect in the future. The general consensus what that Governor Brown and the legislature will continue to take money from every source there is to feed to the continued growth in state spending.
Saturday afternoon gave us a very informative presentation by the Los Angeles County Parole Revocation Section of the District Attorney’s Office. We have all heard about the early release program as a part of the Governor’s realignment program. We had been told that the early release program would be non-violent prisoners only. As a result of this crime has increased county wide. We were also told that the “new” state parole hearing group has set release dates for 50% of the convicted murderers in our state prisons. This was a very numbing presentation indeed!
All in all this conference provides a good opportunity for cities to meet with others and share valuable information. I am proud to be our representative for this group and look forward to continuing.
As always, and questions will be answered to the best of my ability.
As for the other council members going that also shows the same lack of concern. It was Tom Adams' assignment and he would have brought back the report and other info for the rest of the council. Information which I am sure is available through the ICA anytime. I would guess this trip cost the tax payers about $10,000.00. Rancho Bernardo is a great and very expensive venue to hold this get together and represents the excesses in government spending that have placed our state, county and city in the finical trouble we are beginning to experience.
I see Monrovia Fire trucks parked at the YMCA all the time, or driving around looking for something to do. The Police dept on the other hand put there lives on the line every time they show up to a problem. The Fire Dept on the other hand knows what they are responding to and have 5 trucks show up for a cat stuck in a tree. You have know idea how much money and time they have spent trying to run me out of town.