November 8, 2009

Dear RPV Residents,

At its November 4th meeting the council selected a new waste hauler, EDCO, that will result in a significant savings over current rates.  In contrast, the current hauler had proposed a large increase even though service will be automated and once a week.  The new hauler comes with the highest quality rating of all the bidders.  Nonetheless, I won't sugar coat the decision.  It was not the best decision the council could have made.  The lowest bidder also had a high quality rating, was recommended by our staff and currently serves Palos Verdes Estates.  Had we selected the lowest bidder residents would have saved another $1 million per year during the contract term.  The 3-2 decision (Coucilmember Stern and I dissented) does not represent the council's best work.  But the result is still a good one and residents will have improved service at a lower cost.

The election season is over and two new councilmembers, Anthony Misetich and Brian Campbell, will be sworn in at the first meeting on the first Tuesday in December at Hesse Park.  As always the public is invited and encouraged to attend.  Mayor Clark and Councilmember Dyda will be leaving the council at that time. 

I have had a chance to speak with Mr. Campbell and I think he will bring great energy and enthusiasm to the job.  He is an excellent listener and has a strong interest in the issues facing the city.  I hope to speak to Mr. Misetich soon as well.  In any event I remember as a new councilmember some difficulty getting good committee assignments.  I am determined that our new members not face the same problem.  In two years they will be the senior leaders on the council and therefore responsible for the policy direction of the city.  We must start planning for this change now through committee assignments, among other things.

The election brought us quite a fragmented result, and admittedly a result I did not prefer.  But none of the candidates campaigned on platforms seeking any significant policy changes from the council's current direction.  Over the last 6 years since I was elected in 2003 (and starting before then as well), we raised the user fee, kept the utility users tax and dramatically increased spending on storm drains and streets, fixing things before they broke.  The McCarroll Canyon repair is recognized as an award winning project among public engineers.  We applied for and obtained large federal and state grants to buy and preserve a total of 2 square miles of open space, the largest coastal open space preserve north of San Diego and south of the Santa Monica mountains.  We minimized the city's liabilities in suits brought by developers (no city money has been paid to developers in judgments or settlements) and we continue to defend those suits as appropriate.  These steps helped our properties hold their value and preserved our way of life. I don't think anyone seeks to undo these steps.

Four of us on the current council have been together for the last 6 years.  We have instilled a new set of values.  Prior councils were often passive in responding to the city's problems.  In contrast, we have been proactive and we asked what it would take to do the job right--e.g. keep our streets and storm drains in proper repair--and then tried to get there.  A good definition of "leadership" is "getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve." (credit to Tom Landry).  RPV's council has shown good leadership over the years and I hope and I am convinced we will continue to do so.


Tom Long
Councilmember, Rancho Palos Verdes