City Council AssignmentsThese are the committes and agencies that I sit on as an agency Director, Committee Member, or as the city of Palmdale's Delegate, repesenting our city's or regions interests on a local, regional, state and national level. In addition, I voluntarily participate in a number of other critical committees, in addition to the mandated assignments and joint powers agencies that we participate in as a matter of policy or law. LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIESDESERT/MOUNTAIN DIVISION - DELEGATEAs the City's delegate to the Desert/Mountain Division of the League of California Cities, I regularly attend meetings with other city officials in the region with common interests. This division includes communities from Palmdale to Mammoth to Barstow. REGIONAL TRAUMA CENTER AD-HOC COMMITTEEThe Desert/Mountain Division of the League of California Cities recently formed an ad-hoc Trauma Center Committee, to investigate our options for improved trauma service through the unserved geographically isolated regions from Acton to the Nevada state line. Read more here... PUBLIC SAFETY POLICY COMMITTEE - MEMBERI was appointed to the League's statewide Public Safety Policy Committee, with our Council's support, in 2004, and continue serving today. My nearly 30 years experience in EMS and Fire Service, including Prevention, Disaster Management and Response, is proving valuable in this endeavor. I am monitoring and making recommendations on legislation and issues affecting law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical services and related functions. GANG and GRAFITTI TASK FORCE - CHAIRMANIn the Spring of '07, joined by representatives of other California cities experiencing the migration and impact of gangs, gang members and taggers into our communities, I addressed the League of California Cities requesting they take a formal and more aggressive approach in pursuing and supporting legislation to combat this crinminal element and scourge on our communities. Specifically, local communities want the empowerment to take civil actions, streamlined injunctive process, school and park safe zone enforcement, and registration and GPS monitoring of offenders, as well as penalties for gang activity and juvenile recruitment, and intervention and parenting programs. As a result, I was appointed Chairman, and tasked with co-ordinating this activity with League staff, and state legislative members. We are working on a bi-partisan level to enact these provisions, to support the GOP based gang initiative which may be taken to the voters, in much the same way Jessica's Law was. In fact, even the Governor has embraced the concept. Read more here...
CALIFORNIA CONTRACT CITIES ASSOCIATIONDELEGATEThe City of Palmdale belongs to the California Contract Cities Association, chartered to serve the interests of cities, such as ours, that contract for specialized services. In December of 2005, I was appointed the city of Palmdale's primary delegate to the Contract Cities Association. I had been attending many of the meetings in lieu of our primary delegate during 2004-05, Mr. Dispenza, who routinely failed to attend these meetings. My regular presence and active participation at the Contract Cities Association prompted the association to ask me to serve on the CCCA's Legislative Committee and City/Contracts Committee. These committee positions are voluntary, in addition to the mandated committee assignments and joint powers agencies that we participate in as a matter of policy of law. These committees share significant common ground, and are proving to be a perfect fit with my role on the League's Public Safety Policy Committee. CITY/COUNTY CONTRACTS COMMITTEE - MEMBERMost noticeably, we contract for police services through the Sheriff, we are served by the County Fire District, and private contractors supply a number of other services. I have a strong interest in maintaining equitable contract terms and acting as a watchdog over our taxes. The Contract Cities Committee is tasked with monitoring these service contracts and services and comparing and evaluating the equity of them. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE - MEMBER.I have been active on the legislative front, as a member of the CCCA Legislative committee, championing the recent successful Prop 1A initiative to protect local government taxes from raids by the state. We conduct Legislative Action Days in Sacramento, to interact with our state officials and their staff, on their turf, to lobby for issues of common interest to local government. ORANGE LINE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITYAGENCY DIRECTORI am our delagate, and a Director of the Orangeline Development Authority, a joint powers agency to establish a high speed mag-lev system from Orange County to the Antelope Valley. We recently acquired an impressive team from Arcadis International, with Lockheed Martin as a private sector partners. This system has the most momentum of all high-speed rail proposals, and is the only one with joint powers authority and a private partner, and is not seeking on-going government funding of ongoing operational expenses. I am regularly asked to speak to other communities on this project's merits, and I played a key role in recruiting our neighboring city of Santa Clarita to join the authority. In 2006, I joined other key agency members on a factfinding mission to Shanghai, China to experience first-hand the operational mag-lev from he airport to downtown. For more information on mag-lev tecnology, visit the California Mag-Lev website.
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