The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 108, No. 11 - March 14, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................6
Classifieds............................4
Community Briefs...............2
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Legals............................ 10,11
Letters...................................2
Real Estate..................7-9,12
School Spotlight..................3
Sports.................................3,6
Weekend
Forecast
Career Day at El Segundo High
El Segundo High School Career Day took place this past Friday. The event was planned and hosted by the College and Career Readiness Club. Officers of the club are Sierra Sinnett, Amy Powell, Carly
Priebe, Kara Lee and advisor Ms. Linal Hirada. Over 100 business and community volunteers were present to inspire the students, provide insights into heir careers and spend the morning with the students.
Photo Provided by Chris Powell.
City on Track to Complete Top
Priority Projects in Current Year
By Brian Simon
Perhaps lost among all the recent talk about
residents paying for solid waste collection for
the first time ever and disagreement about which
groups ought to receive swim time at the new
aquatics facility is that the City of El Segundo
is in the midst of an unprecedented spate of
ongoing projects. Keeping in mind the mantra to
“provide a great place to live, work and visit,”
the 2018/19 Strategic Work Plan features 59
goals, objectives and activities with the vast
majority expected to be completed during the
current fiscal year. Only a few will delay to
2019/20, while none fell through the cracks.
In ranking overall importance, the El Segundo
Council identified the 11 highest priority items
with the Tier 1 designation. Finance Director
Joe Lillio recently outlined the highlights in
a first quarter report. The projects comply
with the five primary goals established by
the Council for the three-year strategic plan.
With public safety one of the areas deemed
most critical, the City implemented a plan to
recruit and train police officers. The work in
progress is a collaboration between Human
Resources and Police Chief Bill Whalen with
his command staff to review and analyze current
efforts to recruit lateral officers, academy
graduate and officer trainees to build sworn
personnel back to allotted numbers.
Also a top item on the list is the desire to
increase community awareness of the need for
disaster preparedness. For this, the police and
fire departments teamed up to add 14 members
to the growing Community Emergency
Response Training (CERT) program. The new
hybrid class included on-line training at the
CERT member’s discretion with a hands-on,
eight-hour manipulative training session to
complete the program.
As part of the goal to approach its work in
a financially strategic and responsible way,
the City continued to address its pension
liability – given dire estimates that project
those costs gobbling up ever-larger chunks
of future expenditures. To attack the problem,
the Council approved $2.5 million in the
2018/19 budget to pay down the long-term
debt in order to reduce interest payments
over time. Various actions resulted in over
$6 million in savings over the next 25-30
years. Additionally, new labor agreements
with the police and firefighter associations
included clauses for employees to pick up
additional portions of their own pension costs.
Another priority activity is to continue on a
sustainable financial path, solve future deficits
and maintain revenues. The City hopes to
accomplish this through current labor negotiations,
a pension ad hoc committee and the
strategic plan itself. And in order to promote
economic growth and vitality for businesses
and the community, the City also made it a
Tier 1 priority to continue to advocate for its
interests regarding LAX impacts.
The general goal to develop and maintain
quality infrastructure and technology led the
Council to grant top priority to improving
City facilities through completing a conditions
assessment and making subsequent improvements.
This project is underway, with draft
reports finished and under staff review before
the item goes to the Council.
Another primary objective for the City is to
develop s a choice employer and workforce.
The Tier 1 activity to achieve this involves
developing a new approach to human resources
incorporating “Learning Based” organization
principles with innovations such as the first
Leadership Development Academy. Other
components include computer-based training
opportunities for staff and an employee
wellness program. In another Tier 1 item, Information
Services Division staff will continue
to implement new projects as part of the
Technology Master Plan.
Under the overall goal to enhance customer
service and engagement, the Tier 1 activities
included developing a communications program
under the new Deputy City Manager, with
a plan set to go to the Council in the next
month. Staff is also in the midst of working
with the various committees, commissions and
boards to update bylaws in order to clarify
roles and expectations. Also in progress is
a plan to strengthen relationships between
Council, executives and staff.
Of the 14 Tier 2 activities, 11 are on track
for completion this fiscal year with the other
three expected to complete in 2019/20. Just
a few of the notable projects: Completing
current labor negotiations, filling vacant
positions to bolster service, developing a
multi-year capital improvement plan, digitizing
document imaging of historical plans
and records to aid in public accessibility, and
implementing emergency operations center
(EOC) software. Meanwhile staff continues
to research new revenue options for operations
and infrastructure and has launched
preliminary discussions with other cities to
explore a future statewide ballot measure to
get relief from low property taxes. Coming
up are talks to create a development fee for
the arts, a review of the business license tax,
Council discussion of the CenterCal/TopGolf
negotiations in early spring, consideration of
creating a risk manager position to minimize
liability claims, and implementation of an
accessory dwelling unit ordinance that reflect
changes in state requirements. A refined focus
on economic attraction is also ongoing.
Of 31 projects classified as “other activities,”
26 will be done this year with five set
for 2019/20. “None of the 59 are expected
to be unattainable,” Lillio said. •
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/52˚
Saturday
Sunny
72˚/54˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
73˚/56˚