The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 104, No. 2 - January 8, 2015 Inside This Issue Best of the Best..................5 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................8 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Legals................................ 8-9 Letters...................................2 Obituaries.............................2 Politically Speaking............5 Real Estate...................10-12 Sports....................................6 Weekend Forecast Local Residents Practice on the Green A ladies’ group enjoys an early morning golf game at The Lakes at El Segundo. Photo by Peter Thornton, jp.thornton58@gmail.com. ES Mayor Holds High Hopes for 2015 By Brian Simon The start of a new year is often a good time for reflection about the past, but also a prime opportunity to clear the slate and focus on building a better tomorrow. For El Segundo Mayor Suzanne Fuentes, 2015 offers high hopes for a city that looks to be on the upswing after some difficult challenges. Looking back on her first eight-plus months of leadership, the lifelong local resident can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. With a 40-hour a week job as an engineer at Northrop Grumman on top of her City Council duties, Fuentes’ plate is admittedly full. However, she expected nothing less when she was first elected and welcomes the additional time commitment. “My workload has increased due to more events and meetings I attend on the City’s behalf,” she said. “As Mayor, I am invited to more events including additional military programs that hold a special honor to me. I’ve treated Council as my second career since I came aboard in 2010, so I’m used to spending much of my personal time on Council items. So there are no surprising aspects, although I do have to sign a lot more documents.” Fuentes is proud to note that though the five Council members don’t necessarily agree on every item (as is the case with any municipal governing body), she and her colleagues have collaborated to make key decisions for the long-term betterment of the community. “I think the Council’s most notable decision since I became Mayor is an ambitious investment in public works projects-- and we are all on the same page about this,” she said. “The City neglected infrastructure maintenance and improvements for many years. Our buildings, streets, sidewalks, sewers and other areas are showing wear and becoming unsafe. A city exists to provide services to residents and businesses, which is reflected in the Council decision to repair and maintain our infrastructure.” Said investment also comes with a price tag that the Council will have to manage carefully, given the unpredictability of the future economy and the ebb and flow of not always stable revenues versus habitually rising expenditures. “Budget challenges continue to loom on the horizon,” Fuentes said. “Our revenue streams are dynamic and fluctuate month to month. Council has to look at the long-term implications, using historical data when making decisions instead of snapshots—because revenue may be up one quarter but down another.” Another challenge is in the area of employee resources, the Mayor indicated. Several years of financial struggles prompted the City to maintain understaffed departments resulting in project backlogs. “That is now being addressed,” Fuentes said. “Public Works and Planning and Building Safety are both approved to hire additional employees to handle their exceptional workloads so we can expedite completion of our capital improvement projects and engineering work connected to commercial activity. We also just approved a reclassification of our Information Services Division so we can minimize project delays and system downtime that have been nagging issues.” Fuentes said she is encouraged by the wealth of new commercial developments in town, with major projects in the works such as elevon at Campus El Segundo, The Point shopping complex adjacent to Plaza El Segundo, multiple hotels, and several creative office centers. “The City continues to work diligently to attract businesses to El Segundo and the effort is reaping dividends,” Fuentes said. “We hired Paolucci Communications Arts [now Paoluci, Salling & Martin] to brand El Segundo for economic development. While new businesses continue to move to El Segundo, including the two fastest growing companies in the County—Fuhu and Quest Nutrition—we must also stay on the ball when it comes to business retention. I continue to receive WARN [Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification] letters informing the City of ongoing layoffs in local businesses.” As was almost always the case with her predecessors, Fuentes confirmed that her number one goal for the coming year is to balance the City’s budget. “The primary purpose of City government is to provide essential services: public works, including water sewer and streets; public safety--police and fire; economic development--taxes and zoning; building safety and planning; parks and recreation; and libraries,” she explained. “This council has focused on course-correcting the City’s finances in order to provide these services at the highest level possible within our current finances.” Current finances provide a ray of hope, as Fuentes reported that revenue projections are optimistic—though the numbers seem to change each quarter, so nothing is ever set in stone. “Our finances are stabilizing due to Council’s restraint spending money the City doesn’t have and our commitment to improving infrastructure,” she said. As for maintaining a high level of services, the Mayor praised City employees for their “exceptional work” despite the financial challenges of recent years.” Our employees provide those services with professionalism and skill,” Fuentes said. “Negotiations continue with the City’s bargaining units as we speak. City Council and City employees are involved in thoughtful, deliberate talks committed to acceptable resolutions.” In addition to shoring up the City’s coffers, Fuentes also identified a couple of special projects and action items she intends to promote in 2015. “Emergency preparedness remains high on my priority list,” she said. “It’s imperative we restore our El Segundo CERT Association and El Segundo Amateur Radio Club. Our vibrant, engaged, skilled See ES Mayor, page 6 Friday Partly Cloudy 66˚/53˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 65˚/53˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 65˚/52˚
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