Put Lake Forest First

By Jim Gardner

The City spends less than 5% of our $35,000,000 annual budget on people and businesses in our City. In these tough economic times that has to change.

In the area of professional services, the City spent nearly $150,000 in July. 100% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Are there no auditors in Lake Forest? Do we have no engineers? Are our IT professionals unworthy of city dollars?

The city spent over $5000 in office supplies. 100% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

We purchased business cards, copier supplies and services from Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Irvine, and even out of state.

In the area of entertainment, the City spent more than $25,000 in July. 96% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Entertainers were hired from Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Tustin, Buena Park, and Los Angeles. Services were purchased from Fullerton, Laguna Hills, Hollywood, San Diego, and Cypress. Of 20 checks written, only 2 were made out to Lake Forest residents, and the total was less than $1000 out of more than $25,000.

In the area of instructors, the City spent more than $10,000 in July. 88% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Instructors were hired from Irvine, RSM, Santa Ana, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Hills. Of 12 instructors, only 3 were from Lake Forest. Is there no one in Lake Forest who can teach tennis, painting, dance, dog obedience, or agility training?

In the area of general maintenance, the City spent more than $100,000 in July. 86% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Payments for repairs were made to people or businesses in Mission Viejo, Chino, San Juan Capistrano, Anaheim, Laguna Hills, etc. Only 2 businesses in Lake Forest were used and they received only $15,000 of the $110,000. I know more than a dozen handymen and contractors who could sure use some of that business.

Who's making the big bucks? Excluding personnel, utilities, etc., here's a list of the top 15 payees for the month of July, along with their city.

• GMC Engineering, $796,331.46, Tustin
• EBS General Engineering, $248,553.28, Corona
• Environmental Construction, $187,211.21, Woodland Hills
• Spectrum Care, $111,835.18, Lake Forest (the only 1)
• Sukut Construction, $68,020.50, Santa Ana
• Civilsource, $66,388.75, Irvine
• Synoptek, $51,446.57, Boise, Idaho
• Marina Landscape, $49,920.72, Anaheim
• LGC Geotechnical, $35,967.50, San Clemente
• Bonanza Steam Cleaning ,$34,119.64 , San Juan Capistrano
• Psomas & Associates, $33,713.18, Los Angeles
• Athense Services, $25,918.21, City of Industry
• All City Management, $22,793.76, San Diego
• Hushmand Associates, $13,520.00, Irvine
• Anderson Penna, $13,061.88, Phoenix

I'm not saying that just because you live in Lake Forest the city should hire you. We want the city to use the best people at the best possible price. But when you look at these figures, you've got to wonder why more city money isn't spent in the city.

When I ran for office in 2010 I used a printer here in Lake Forest (ACE) and I bought my T-shirts from the shop next to the 99 cent store on El Toro Rd. I purchased advertisements from a great guy (Gary Eilts) who lives in Lake Forest and I hired people to work in my campaign who lived in Lake Forest (Blake Tuttle and Doris Johnson). All the fund raising expenses I had I used on facilities and food in Lake Forest. Bottom line + 48% of my campaign expenses were spent in Lake Forest.

I have been on the Board of my HOA for 5+ years, spent 2+ years as President, and have been very active (as anyone who lives there knows). Several years ago I started a "Biz Net" group in our HOA to promote the businesses of HOA members. I also asked our GM to place preferences on HOA members and then Lake Forest members whenever we purchased services (e.g., notary, car repair, food, etc.).

Do the HOA hiring and spending practices at my HOA reflect my call to "Put Lake Forest First"? Let's see.

Hiring

• Almost all the top managers hired by the City of Lake Forest live outside Lake Forest. They live in Riverside County, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, RSM, etc.

• Almost all the top managers hired by my HOA live inside the City of Lake Forest.

• Less than 5% of the money spent by the City in July went to businesses/people that live in Lake Forest.

• 32% of the money spent by my HOA in July went to businesses/people that live in Lake Forest.

BTW - if you do the math you'll see that if the City spent as much inside Lake Forest as my HOA does, nearly $10,000,000 of additional City dollars would be spent inside the city. That would go a long way to helping our neighbors who are struggling in this economic crisis.

If you elect me to the Council I will establish a "Put Lake Forest First" program and see that before a single dollar is spent by the City, residents and businesses in our City are considered. I will create a forum where residents and businesses in our City can see what types of business opportunities are available, and before we award a contract I will ask "Is there someone in this city who can provide a comparable service?"