Hawthorne Press Tribune The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - January 22, 2015 Inglewood High School to Found New Law Academy Inglewood High School recently received $35,000 in grand funding to help found Inglewood High Law School Academy to teach students critical thinking, writing, research, and debate. Photo by Osvin Suazo, oqoimages@gmail.com. Hawthorne City Council Receives “Clean” Grade from Auditors By Nancy Peters increase of three percent as proposed by the The Hawthorne City Council met on California Water Service Company, following Tuesday, January 20 and received a report a public hearing and the filing of the six from Peggy McBride, representing the city’s written comments opposing the increased independent auditors, Vasquez & Company, rate. The approval vote was a majority, with who just completed the financial audits for Council member Nilo Michelin casting the the fiscal year ended on June 30, 2014. dissenting vote. The city’s new Finance Director, Rickey The proposal for the addition of Vital Medical Manhabal, presented the financial reports Services, LLC, as the in-house Hawthorne to the auditors in an efficient and accurate Police Department medical care unit, in lieu manner and no adjustments were necessary. of transporting arrestees who require minor There were no conditions placed by the medical attention to Bayside Urgent Care. auditors on the procedures, compliances, basic The transporting to an outside facility does financial reporting, or the internal controls. require for the arresting officers to be out of No contentious issues or irregularities were commission and off the streets for extended found and no fraud was detected. The final periods of time to remain with the arrestee. audit was considered “Unmodified-‘Clean’” Vital Medical Services, LLC, is the sole vendor and the auditors had only a few suggestions. who provides these in-house services for a The recommendation for more careful and contractual fee. This contract was approved less conservative budgeting will allow for less for a projected cost of $75,000 for one year. overages in actuals and a disaster recovery An unwritten request was received from the plan for all financial records should be California State Senate Committee on Rules reexamined and improved. The Director of to set up a Field Office in the Hawthorne City Finance reported that policies and procedures Hall. Extensive discussion ensued on this are being reviewed and modifications are being topic. The request for an office that is more put into place whenever it is determined these than 500 square feet would displace many are necessary. city staff members, thus causing a morale A report from Southern California Edison issue, and the issue will be reexamined by (SCE) was delivered by Marvin Jackmon, the City Manager. The Senator’s office will the SCE representative for Hawthorne, who be contacted and a formal written request for reviewed the recent outages and the actions space in Hawthorne City Hall will be made, taken. Recent outages were actually caused with specific parameters for the needs in this by mylar balloons, which are electricity office, such as, how many desks, phones, conductors, that hit the wires and also by the type of services required from City Hall overgrown palm trees on private property equipment. No approval was voted upon for that needed to be trimmed. SCE, although this request as made in the City Council not obligated to do so on private property, agenda item 15. However, the City Manager removed the fronds and trimmed those trees. It is due diligence of SCE to trim trees on right-of-way and SCE conducts these inspections and removals twice a year. Major circuits are being replaced and outages should lessen by the time the replacements are completed. Customers can report outages by calling SCE at 1-800-611-1911, which is also where progress on outages being cleared can be heard. The City Council approved the water rate was tasked with informing Senator Isadore Hall’s office that a space can be approved after receipt of the letter request and the City Manager will be authorized to negotiate a lease agreement. Any formal approval of the unwritten request was tabled at this time. Discussion ensued on the request for Hawthorne to be a Host City for the Special Olympics, taking place in Los Angeles in July 2015. Several Council member comments included the question of fundraising and soliciting donations from businesses should be the only ways for money to be raised and the city General Fund should not be affected in any way. Other comments included the question of what benefits there could be to the city and businesses. The majority vote approved this request of a potential expenditure of $46,000 and for Hawthorne to be a Host City for the Special Olympics, with Michelin voting No, Council member Alex Vargas abstaining, and Mayor Chris Brown, Mayor Pro-Tem Olivia Valentine, and Council member Angie Reyes- English, each casting a vote in the affirmative. Mayor Brown designated $1,000 of his 2014 stipend and $1,000 from his 2015 stipend to the Special Olympics fund. To date $1,666 has been received in donations. Working with the Los Angeles Special Olympics Committee will be initiated after this approval. Residents are asked to comply with the state mandate to not water lawns and to especially not use timed sprinklers to that no water usage happens automatically during rainstorms. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Hawthorne City Council is on Tuesday, February 10, 2015. • Inside This Issue Briefs.....................................3 Classifieds............................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................6 Finance..................................2 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................4, 6-7 Looking Up...........................4 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................2 Seniors..................................7 Sports....................................5 Tech Talk...............................3 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 71˚/52˚ Saturday Sunny 76˚/53˚ Sunday Sunny 78˚/54˚ Hawthorne Boulevard Improvement Project Traffic Updates The final phase of the Hawthorne Boulevard Improvement Project was begun on Saturday, January 17th with the closure of the intersection at Rosecrans Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard to facilitate the paving of the roads. The installation of the thermoplastic lane dividers, striping, and markings for the new bike lanes will continue through the end of January. •
Hawthorne_012215_FNL_lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above