Community Meeting Review Essay

For my project I visited the urban center of Hesperias official Website and reviewed the April 1, 2014 urban center Council Meeting which is available to the normal on line. The beginning of the impact started with a call of order then proceeded to the roll call of the mature processs. After these steps had taken place an invocation was performed watch overed by the racket of Allegiance. I need never hear of a prayer referred to as an invocation and it prompted me to review the words definition, a creation request for guidance, dangerous will, good wishes, and good things. (Wikipedia). I was genuinely pleased to see that the council constituents defy chosen prayer as guidance followed by the pledge of allegiance, a leadership respectful of God and Country. The official members present were city manager Thurston Smitty Smith, mayor Pro Tem Eric Schmidt, Council Members Russell Blewett, Bill Holland, and Mike Leonard. Ag terminala revisions and announcements were provid ed by the city clerk followed by a closed sessions report given by the City Attorney.Prior to the main agenda announcements and presentations were provided recognizing public interest groups which included A certificate of recognition for the Desert Winds Quilt Guild, a proclamation for field Volunteer Week, a proclamation for Fair Housing Week, followed by a presentation of the company tear downts calendar provided by Rachel Molina the citys community relations and media coordinator. At this time a request for public comments was do and instructions were provided to those present in regards to time limits per individual. This forum provides an interface for the public with the City Council and the Municipality components which do non naturally respond or withdraw with the presenters but collect the information and provide for a method of follow up from city supply. The first soul called to speak was Jennifer mayo, who discussed road conditions cerebrate to her residence and its poor state of repair which has affected her and her family.The second person called to speak was Jeff Randall who began his discussion with a quote of trust and respect referring to an disregard of code enforcement and fees levied against his property in the amount of $3,500.00. Mr. Randall depict the issue in detail, in which he could not meet the passkey deadline of the code violation due to a tenant that needed to be removed from the property and requested an extension to resolve the violation. He was verbally provided an extension and was told to just handle the situation and no fees would be imposed. He trusted the individual representing the city to stand by his word and not to impose any fees until he had the probability to resolve the situation which did not happen. Mr. Randall is requesting the assistance of the council members to resolve the financial burden imposed upon him.The succeeding(a) person called was Jessica Davidson who was accompanied by Vero nica Sanders and were from the Cancer Society, representing a fundraiser called Relay for Life. Their mean for presenting was to invite the City Council and its attendees to an upcoming 24-hour event. The council did respond to these presenters, stating that they will be attending this event as a team and additionally asked the presenters to return to the next council venue where they will be given a proclamation (recognition) for their public efforts. The next person called was Jennifer Shaw a representative from Southern calcium Edison. The project for her presentation was to introduce Julie Gilbert, her replacement who is also employed with Southern California Edison. This seemed to be a professional courtesy provided by the utility firm.Al Vougler was the last presenter to be called and spoke closely concerns related to the City of Hesperias recent lease of urine allocations from the Rancho peeing District totaling 1300 acre feet. Mr. Vougler believed that even though the purchase rate of $382.50 per acre foot seemed reasonable that the Citys piss supply district should be approaching ho habit physicians much like himself that have unused piss allocations at a reduced price. Mr. Vougler believed that this would be a combined benefit for the City and its residents. The City Manager did provide a general response to Mr. Vougler in an attempt to define the characteristics of water classifications and on that point overall values which was followed by the City Attorney who provided further comparisons of water and values. The meeting continued with the Joint Consent Calendar, the consent calendar is a grouping of routine matters to be acted on in one motion. thither were six items considered and recommended actions taken anywhere from issues related to utilities to professional services.At the end of this presentation it was open to public hearing providing any concerned resident an opportunity to speak. This was followed by consent ordinances whic h city staff members began to speak about Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and its draft citizen participation curriculum for years 2015-2019. This was followed by an ordinance for the Civic Plaza which would limit the use of skateboards, bicycles, and leashed animals during special events held at this location. Following these issues the council would make a decision which would be placed on record for public view. New business was proposed where an grace of long ranged property management was projected, but they motioned to push this event forrard to the next meeting due to the absence of a council member who was much familiar with the issue. A final request to those attending to be heard was made leading to the council committees reports and comments.Each council member was provided the opportunity to give a final presentation in regards to the events that had taken place. Council member Holland had very nice things to say in fictional character to Jennifer Mayo and her courage for coming to the meeting and addressing her concerns. Mrs. Mayo had mentioned earlier that she was on a scrapes errand in reference to her attempt to share her road concerns and Mr. Holland tranquillize her that her attempts were not imprudent. The city staff will diligently look for funds to improve the road conditions for the City of Hesperia. I was very impressed by the comments made by Mr. Holland during the meeting and at its closure. He was less form- whole(prenominal) and made everyone feel welcome and I would say the same for council member Blewett and Mayor Smith. Mayor Pro Tem Schmidt had some disparaging comments in reference to Mr. Randalls code enforcement issues and felt he had made erroneous claims to the council.I felt this was a bit unbecoming of Schmidt specially in his usance as Pro Tem (vice mayor). I believe he should be more considerate to those that address the council in a fair and reasonable manner. The city attorney seemed very cold and matter of fact which is probably typical of all legal personnel. I was quite pleased with this topical anaesthetic government, they were very informal and very endearing. I believe that the city council is very attentive to their local residence and businesses that they are serving and operate in the outgo interest of everyone. Economically in that location was concern over budget constraints especially for those related to road improvements, monies were approved for the CDGB plan which is a joint activeness between the city and the community development groups. It was interesting that there were a lot of legal concerns related to the councils operation and their decision development and was quoted several(prenominal) times during the proceedings.I would like to make note that the city staff often referred to but never specifically identified have a great behind the scenes responsibility in researching all the necessary regulative requirements related to the operation of this committee. This experience has actually peaked my interest in local politics I like the fact that it is approachable compared to subject field politics which is not interested in personal opinion only those provided by an elected official. I dont believe local government to be any more efficient than national government, there may be fewer constraints within local government that crapper be resolved at a much faster pace. I found the public presentation to be very interesting, all of the presenters seemed to be very informative and well spoken. I was drawn to Mr. Vouglers water concerns which led me to do further research in reference to water rights. I was unaware that residence had water allocations available for re-sale.I went to the Mojave Water agencies website to learn about their responsibilities and for clarification of local water rights. In doing so I learned that they monitor all the water allocations throughout the superior Desert including Municipalities and residents. It was true what the City Manager had told Mr. Vougler in regards to the value of his water rights. Due to the waters agricultural component the re-sale of the product to a Municipality is 75% that of a re-sale from another commercial water holder. This is why Mr. Vouglers water was valued at $275.00 versus $382.00. In a sense it has the equivalent dollar value when purchased by the Municipality such as the City of Hesperia. When the council responded to Mr. Vougler they responded accurately and I felt they were very respectful in doing so.Works CitedAgenda. City of Hesperia. Council Chambers, (01 April 2014). Web. (01 May 2014). http//www.cityofhesperia.us/archive.aspxInvocation. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., (08 April 2014). Web. (01 May 2014). http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InvocationWater Transfer Types. Mojave Water Agency, Web. (01 May 2014). http//www.mojavewater.org/water_transfer_forms.html