City Council AssignmentsThese are the committees, agencies and boards that I sit on as an agency Director, Committee Member, or as the city of Palmdale's Delegate, repesenting our city's or region's interests on a local, regional, state and national level. In addition, I voluntarily participate in a number of other critical committees, in addition to the mandated assignments and joint powers agencies that we participate in as a matter of policy or law. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTSREGIONAL COUNCIL DELEGATE, DISTRICT 43 - LANCASTER/PALMDALEI am serving my second term as the Regional Council representative for District 43, Lancaster/Palmdale, to the Southern California Association of Governments. SCAG is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization, for the 80 cities, 14 subregional planning organizations, and the 6 counies of Los Angeles, Riverside, Imperial, Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino. SCAG is mandated by federal and state law to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality. Although we are entiteled to at least 4 sub-committee representatives to SCAG, curently, I am the only active participant. COMMUNITY, ECONOMIC, AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEI am a member of the Community, Economic and Human Development Committee, one of the most active committees in SCAG, dealing with development, affordable housing issues, and economic recovery strategies. As mandated by state law, every 5 years, the CEHD must provide a report to the Regional Council detailing the regional housing needs. REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND APPEALS BOARDI was selected as one of two Los Angeles County representatives to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment and Appeals Board. We have an intense schedule of public hearings and workshops throughout the Southern California region, to gather data towards our mandate to provide Sustainable Community Strategies. The most contentious task is assigning the affordable housing (moderate, low, and very low income) requirements to communities in the region, based on total requirements from our friends at the State Housing Department. LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIESDESERT/MOUNTAIN DIVISION - DELEGATEAs the City's delegate to the Desert/Mountain Division of the League of California Cities, I regularly attend meetings with other city officials in the region with common interests. This division includes communities from Palmdale to Mammoth to Barstow. I was recently recognized by my peers within this organization with the prestigous Lifetime Public Service Award. PUBLIC SAFETY POLICY COMMITTEE - MEMBERI was appointed to the League's statewide Public Safety Policy Committee, with our Council's support, in 2004, and continue serving today. My nearly 30 years experience in EMS and Fire Service, including Prevention, Disaster Management and Response, is proving valuable in this endeavor. I am monitoring and making recommendations on legislation and issues affecting law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical services and related functions. I participate int the Wildland Urban Interface/Fire Committee, and the Disaster Management/Preparedness Committee. REGIONAL TRAUMA CENTER AD-HOC COMMITTEEI chaired the Desert/Mountain Division ad-hoc Trauma Center Committee, to investigate our options for improved trauma service through the unserved geographically isolated regions from Acton to the Nevada state line. With the AV Hospital's certification as a Level II Trauma Center, our goal was achieved, and we continue to press for improved cross jurisdictional reimbursement legislation at the state and federal level, and improved mutual aid between counties. Read more here... GANG and GRAFITTI TASK FORCE - PAST CHAIRMANIn the Spring of '07, joined by representatives of other California cities experiencing the migration and impact of gangs, gang members and taggers into our communities, I addressed the League of California Cities requesting they take a formal and more aggressive approach in pursuing and supporting legislation to combat this criminal element and scourge on our communities. Specifically, local communities want the empowerment to take civil actions, streamlined injunctive process, school and park safe zone enforcement, and registration and GPS monitoring of offenders, as well as penalties for gang activity and juvenile recruitment, and intervention and parenting programs. As a result, I was appointed Chairman, and tasked with co-ordinating this activity with League staff, and state legislative members. We are working on a bi-partisan level to enact these provisions, to support the GOP based gang initiative which may be taken to the voters, in much the same way Jessica's Law was. In fact, even the Governor has embraced the concept. This concept has grown to a State and National Task force, replacing our task specific committee. Read more here... CALIFORNIA CONTRACT CITIES ASSOCIATIONDELEGATEThe City of Palmdale belongs to the California Contract Cities Association, chartered to serve the interests of cities, such as ours, that contract for specialized services. In December of 2005, I was appointed the city of Palmdale's primary delegate to the Contract Cities Association. I had been attending many of the meetings in lieu of our primary delegate during 2004-05, Mr. Dispenza, who routinely failed to attend these meetings. My regular presence and active participation at the Contract Cities Association prompted the association to ask me to serve on the CCCA's Legislative Committee and City/Contracts Committee. These committee positions are voluntary, in addition to the mandated committee assignments and joint powers agencies that we participate in as a matter of policy of law. These committees share significant common ground, and are proving to be a perfect fit with my role on the League's Public Safety Policy Committee. CITY/COUNTY CONTRACTS COMMITTEE - MEMBERMost noticeably, we contract for police services through the Sheriff, we are served by the County Fire District, and private contractors supply a number of other services. I have a strong interest in maintaining equitable contract terms and acting as a watchdog over our taxes. The Contract Cities Committee is tasked with monitoring these service contracts and services and comparing and evaluating the equity of them. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE - MEMBER.I have been active on the legislative front, as a member of the CCCA Legislative committee, championing the recent successful Prop 1A initiative to protect local government taxes from raids by the state. We conduct Legislative Action Days in Sacramento, to interact with our state officials and their staff, on their turf, to lobby for issues of common interest to local government. ORANGE LINE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITYI was our delagate and a Director of the Orangeline Development Authority, a joint powers agency to establish a high speed mag-lev system from Orange County to the Antelope Valley until our City Council chose to drop our formal membership. As a result, Santa Clarita, not Palmdale, may become the northern treminus for this line, and may also reap the benefit of the Transit Oriented development it will generate, as well as the jobs associated with the service yard. I continue to follow the Authority, albiet in an informal role. This system has the most momentum of all high-speed rail proposals, and is the only one with joint powers authority and private partners, and is. I am regularly asked to speak to other communities on this project's merits, and I played a key role in recruiting our neighboring city of Santa Clarita to join the authority. In 2006, I joined other key agency members on a factfinding mission to Shanghai, China to experience first-hand the operational mag-lev from he airport to downtown. For more information on mag-lev tecnology, visit the California Mag-Lev website. PALMDALE/PONCITLAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION
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