The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 52 - December 27, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................18
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Film Review..........................6
Legals............................15-17
Obituaries.............................2
Pets......................................14
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.....................9-13
Sports.................................5,7
Weekend
Forecast
Raytheon Holiday Toy Donations
El Segundo Year in Review Part 1:
City Hall Rolls with the Changes
By Brian Simon
It was another whirlwind year in El Segundo
with a number of notable news items
that made their way through these pages over
the last 12 months. For the short term, the
City of El Segundo had much to be pleased
about regarding its finances – with a structurally
balanced budget and a hefty general
fund surplus of over $7 million. Savings
from staff vacancies, plus revenue spikes
from sources such as transient occupancy
taxes were among the chief reasons for the
positive bottom line. But the good tidings
were tempered with projections of sizable
deficits within just a few years, mainly due
to the escalating unfunded pension liability
that continues to soak up ever larger chunks
of annual expenditures. The El Segundo City
Council this year took proactive measures
to address long-range pension impacts by
allocating additional funds to shave down
interest and avoid negative amortization.
The group also established a trust fund to
maximize investment possibilities for future
monies to be used towards pension payments.
Actions to date resulted in savings of $6.15
million overall.
City leadership changed after the April
election with the departures of Mayor Suzanne
Fuentes and Councilmember Mike
Dugan, who both chose not to run again. Scot
Nicol, previously on the El Segundo Planning
Commission, and Chris Pimentel were
the top vote-getters out of four candidates
and officially joined the Council in May.
The revamped quintet then appointed Drew
Boyles as the mayor and Carol Pirsztuk as
the mayor pro tem. El Segundo voters also
overwhelmingly passed Measure C, a preemptive
three-quarter-cent sales tax increase
that will only be imposed if and when Los
Angeles County places a similar measure
on a future ballot. Should that occur, the
additional sales tax revenues (initially estimated
at $9 million annually) will all go to
the City of El Segundo instead of into LA
County coffers. As a way to boost revenues
immediately, the Council in June moved
forward with an amended fee schedule to
recover the City’s total costs for various
services – with projections of $600,000 in
additional general fund dollars in 2018/19.
During summer strategic planning and
budget study sessions, the Council reinforced
its previous direction, identified areas for
improvement, targeted spending priorities
and set up a 2019 work plan. To develop
baselines in order to improve service and to
better inform budget decision-making, the City
conducted a Net Promoter Score and business
and resident survey that will repeat in 2019.
Staff also conducted an employee survey.
And just last week, the Council approved
the next three-year strategic plan that will
further develop key performance indicators
to measure the effectiveness of City services
and consider ways to get better.
Meanwhile, the allocations from the budget
surplus included $2.5 million towards
paying down future pension obligations and
another $3.1 million to capital improvement
projects. The Council also approved various
department head requests with the stipulation
that any new hires don’t come out of
the surplus funds. Among the notable capital
projects in 2018: Main Street bollards and
downtown landscaping/beautification (with
tree up-lighting and parklets coming soon),
Fire Station #1 seismic retrofit, police station
remodel, Recreation Park picnic shelter,
citywide pavement rehabilitation, and pump
station modifications. A citywide facility
needs assessment is also in progress with
results expected in 2019. Also of note, the
City of Los Angeles (as part of El Segundo’s
settlement with airport officials) completed a
pavement rehabilitation project on its portion
of Imperial Highway, from Vista del Mar to
Aviation Boulevard. Relations with neighboring
Scattergood and DWP improved, charting
the course for the water tank mural project
that transformed what was a long-time rusty
eyesore in the community entryway on the
south side of Grand coming up from the
beach. The designer was renowned artist
John Van Hamersveld.
Public safety highlights included formation
of the All Hazards Incident Management
Team to train and prepare City personnel
to respond to major events; the El Segundo
Police Department Naloxone program to prevent
possible drug overdose deaths; plans to
incorporate drones in local crime enforcement;
upgrades in car and body-worn cameras for
police personnel; replacement of paramedic
ambulances; and funding from Chevron for
fire engine, utility vehicle and safety equipment
replacement. The City also invested in
major technology upgrades to the emergency
radio system and installed a new fire dispatch
pre-alert system to improve response times. To
build back up the number of sworn personnel
to budgeted levels, the Council approved
an aggressive police recruitment campaign
with high bonuses to entice lateral officers
to come here, among other incentives. On a
Raytheon employees in El Segundo donated over 2,700 toys to the Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots organization. Photo by Patrick Mcintyre.
See Year in Review, page 10
Friday
Sunny
64˚/45˚
Saturday
Sunny
63˚/45˚
Sunday
Sunny
63˚/47˚