Should Yorba Linda hire a lobbyist?
Should Yorba Linda hire a lobbyist to represent the city at the state and federal level?
Interim City Manager Bill Kelly thinks so, but City Council members appear divided on the question, based on discussion at a recent meeting. One cost estimate from a lobbyist firm was $4,000 per month plus any expenses related to special city requests.
A decision could come at a future meeting, since the council voted 5-0 to continue the matter after a suggestion to gather more information and explore a possible sharing of expenses with nearby cities, such as Brea or Placentia.
For a near 30-year period ending in 2005 Yorba Linda employed the lobbyist firm Joe A. Gonsalves and Son. Gonsalves represented a state Assembly district northwest of Yorba Linda in Los Angeles County for 12 years (1962-74) before beginning lobbying activity.
Near the end of the contract, the city was paying Gonsalves $30,000 per year, an expense a prior council eliminated. During the recent discussion, John Anderson and Jim Winder voiced opposition, while Jan Horton and Mark Schwing wanted more details.
A brief report to the council by city management assistants Brett Channing and Lauren Cochran listed five past services the Gonsalves firm provided.
One contribution was help in securing a share of property taxes. (Longtime residents might recall Yorba Linda didn’t levy a property tax prior to 1978’s Proposition 13, and then-City Manager Art Simonian worked with state legislators to gain future revenues.)
Other services cited include help in exempting the city from educational revenue augmentation fund fees, merging Yorba Linda School District with Placentia Unified School District, developing the Nixon library and defeating a Gypson Canyon prison.
In recommending the city hire a state and federal lobbyist, the report noted four “pros” and just one “con,” namely “the cost of services.”
The pros: a “reporting mechanism” on legislative issues, “representation through the lobbyist’s relationships with elected officials to influence legislation,” legislative and political expertise and having “an agency to fight for [the city’s] issues and problems.”
A FINAL NOTE
Also set for future council action is a “citizens fair political participation ordinance,” the outgrowth of petition-blocking practices and an alleged lack of neutrality by council and city staff members at the height of the 2005-06 Town Center redevelopment controversy.
Developer-hired blockers were especially aggressive during the signature-gathering effort to overturn higher-density Town Center zoning laws, according to accounts at the time by Anderson, Horton and Nancy Rikel, all elected to the council after the events occurred.
Interim City Manager Bill Kelly thinks so, but City Council members appear divided on the question, based on discussion at a recent meeting. One cost estimate from a lobbyist firm was $4,000 per month plus any expenses related to special city requests.
A decision could come at a future meeting, since the council voted 5-0 to continue the matter after a suggestion to gather more information and explore a possible sharing of expenses with nearby cities, such as Brea or Placentia.
For a near 30-year period ending in 2005 Yorba Linda employed the lobbyist firm Joe A. Gonsalves and Son. Gonsalves represented a state Assembly district northwest of Yorba Linda in Los Angeles County for 12 years (1962-74) before beginning lobbying activity.
Near the end of the contract, the city was paying Gonsalves $30,000 per year, an expense a prior council eliminated. During the recent discussion, John Anderson and Jim Winder voiced opposition, while Jan Horton and Mark Schwing wanted more details.
A brief report to the council by city management assistants Brett Channing and Lauren Cochran listed five past services the Gonsalves firm provided.
One contribution was help in securing a share of property taxes. (Longtime residents might recall Yorba Linda didn’t levy a property tax prior to 1978’s Proposition 13, and then-City Manager Art Simonian worked with state legislators to gain future revenues.)
Other services cited include help in exempting the city from educational revenue augmentation fund fees, merging Yorba Linda School District with Placentia Unified School District, developing the Nixon library and defeating a Gypson Canyon prison.
In recommending the city hire a state and federal lobbyist, the report noted four “pros” and just one “con,” namely “the cost of services.”
The pros: a “reporting mechanism” on legislative issues, “representation through the lobbyist’s relationships with elected officials to influence legislation,” legislative and political expertise and having “an agency to fight for [the city’s] issues and problems.”
A FINAL NOTE
Also set for future council action is a “citizens fair political participation ordinance,” the outgrowth of petition-blocking practices and an alleged lack of neutrality by council and city staff members at the height of the 2005-06 Town Center redevelopment controversy.
Developer-hired blockers were especially aggressive during the signature-gathering effort to overturn higher-density Town Center zoning laws, according to accounts at the time by Anderson, Horton and Nancy Rikel, all elected to the council after the events occurred.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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