Dear Friends

By Constance "Connie" Underhill

Reasons to vote Underhill for City Council

When I first ran in 1996, I said it was paramount to restore Placentia's reputation as a well-managed, safe, inviting place to live, go to school, work and shop. We were well on our way to those goals by 2000, when I came up for re-election. The biggest issue in that election was a $750,000 deficit budget passed that year by Councilmembers Lowe, Eckenrode and Moreno that would have depleted our reserves in four years. I was honored to win re-election, along with first timers Scott Brady and Judy Dickinson. I had great expectations for our city's future!

What emerged, unfortunately, despite all their campaign rhetoric about fiscal responsibility and public safety, was a new council majority who thought their mission was to spend and spend and immediately spend more to the point where Placentia now teeters on the brink of insolvency. Our city is deeply in debt!

Fees are being raised and new ones, like the sewer fee, are being implemented. There have been cutbacks in essential city services, such as street maintenance, sidewalk repairs and graffiti removal. Recreational programs were scaled back or eliminated. There are no longer any youth programs offered north of Yorba Linda Boulevard. We lost businesses, most notably Office Depot.

I fought the attempts to shut down our Police Department and to force eminent domain on local businesses. The other councilmembers pushed these issues forward despite the public demonstrations of outrage, finally conceding only when threatened with recall or referendum.

The state's budget crisis is not the only reason Placentia's in such a financial mess. Over the past four years, and particularly the last two when the severity of this recession was well known, the council's avoidance of their fiduciary responsibilities and misplaced priorities drained this city dry. What you have been reading in the newspapers about our city's misspending is pretty accurate! City accounts were raided of approximately $14M and almost all of an $11.5M bond approved last November was dumped in the train trench, including the money to finish Melrose, the Quiet Zone, to expand and rehab the Backs Building into a Senior/Community Center, and to pay for park improvements, to mention just a few.

Since January, after Interim City Manager Ray Greist, revealed the depths of the city's dismal financial situation, the reckless and shortsighted fiscal management of OnTrac is still draining Placentia's cash accounts of over $100,000 per month. According to Mr. Greist, if Council continues to fund OnTrac, the City could run out of operating cash sometime before December.

It's important to note that even if Federal approval of our funding requests comes through, the City won't have a check in hand until sometime next year. The anticipated State funds needed to pay Office Depot and complete Melrose are now dependent upon defeat of the two gambling propositions on the November ballot. The escrow on the recently approved property sales to TOD won't close until January.

News relating to the city's finances, the status of city projects, and the transit oriented development (TOD) project will be forthcoming all through this pre-election period. Watch for it!

Timely action can fix many of Placentia's problems. Council must:

• Curb borrowing
• Get a grip on City spending
• Complete the Melrose grade separation and the quiet zone projects, which are separate from the trench project.

• Show fiscal restraint and prudence
• Listen to the people of Placentia
• Put the best interests of Placentia before those from outside of the community

• Keep Public safety my priority number one
• Be aggressive about gangs, drugs and graffiti
• Act promptly to remedy problems
• Work toward restoring the youth programs
• Support uniform code enforcement
• Support responsible development and revitalization that enhances our city
• Continuing asking the tough questions

• Misappropriation of funds from designated purposes
• Back room deals
• Cover up of wrongdoings
• Bankruptcy as the solution to Placentia's financial problems

Feel free to call me to discuss your concerns or answer your questions. Your reply is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

P.S. My family and I invite you to stop by our house on election day, November 2, after the polls close at 8:00p.m, to celebrate the end of the campaign and catch the early election returns.