BY ARIEL CARMONA JR.

(Google Images)

Diamond Bar — At their March 4 meeting, the Diamond Bar council heard a presentation from students and parents at Diamond Bar High School pertaining to efforts on the part of the school to raise $10,000 for computers, laptops and Audio Visual equipment needed for students to comply with the state’s Common Core testing standards, as well as welcomed Ryan Mcclean to his new position of Deputy City Manager, among other business.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, Mustafa Barlas, a student at Diamond Bar School, asked the council to help the school raise funds. “Every single test has to be done on a computer and because of all the budget cuts, Diamond Bar High School is not able to pay for all this stuff. We are trying to help fundraise money for that; we wanted to reach a goal of $2,000 with the help of you guys fundraising.”

The South Asian Parent Association of Diamond Bar High School, a parent based nonprofit organization under the Diamond Bar High School Magnificent 7 parent group, presented information about their upcoming fundraising event to the council. The fundraiser will include an evening of food, music and cultural event scheduled for March 21 at 7 p.m. at Diamond Palace Cuisine of India located at 1241 Grand Ave.

“Our mission is to enhance the sense of community and belonging of the students at DBHS by celebrating the Indian and sub-continent cultures through education and arts, promoting parent and community involvement…and fostering the spirit of the school’s multicultural community,” said Co-Presidents Archana Verma and Lubna Akbany in a written statement presented to the council.

Sponsorships to the event include a platinum sponsor at $2,000, a gold sponsorship at $1,000, a Silver sponsorship at $500 and a Bronze at $250.

In other actions, the council voted 5-0 to pass their consent calendar, which included a ratification of a check register dated Feb. 13 through Feb. 26 totaling $931,877; approved the Treasurers statement for the month of January and approved a contract amendment for the consulting services for the Willow Heights project’s final environmental impact report for a not-to-exceed cost of $30,210; and acceptance of work performed by a contractor for construction of improvements to the Diamond Bar Center.

The council members also thanked retiring commissioners in various city departments including traffic and transportations, parks and recreations, and the planning commission. A presentation to honor outgoing commissioners included Liana Pincher and Peter Pirritano who worked under Traffic and transportation, and Dave Roberto and Ash Dhingra for Parks and Recreation and planning respectively.

City Manager James De Stefano praised staff for their actions during the rainstorm which pelted the area. “I want to specifically thank the Public Works Department, they were the most active during the course of the few days ensuring that a variety of city staff resources were properly deployed and that the assets that we have were in position to respond to the storm. There were a variety of city staff members that worked very hard, particularly on Friday.”

During his report to the council, DeStefano also spoke about a new position approved by the council at their previous meeting. “I have promoted Ryan McClean to the position of Deputy City Manager,” said DeStefano, “Ryan has been a member of this city staff for many years, has served in the City Manager’s office in a variety of positions. Ryan is an outstanding contributor to our organization and it’s a great pleasure to have promoted to the new position of Deputy City Manager.”

Council-member Ling-Ling Chang said, “I wanted to congratulate our new Deputy City Manager Ryan. You’ve been doing a great job; thank you for all the great work you do and congratulations on the new position.”

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for March 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the AQMD/Government Center Auditorium at 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar.