Tag Archives: Council Corner

Walnut: Council Corner – Crime Tip Program

BY RAYMOND MENDOZA

Walnut –- Members of the Walnut City Council held a special meeting on Monday, March 10, to discuss and consider a number of resolutions for the City.  This took the place of the regular Wednesday City Council meeting.

Council members, after seeing that no minutes and public hearings were scheduled for the agenda, quickly approved three items on the consent calendar including Resolution No. 14-12, which allows certain claims and demands in the amount of $313,009.09; Resolution No. 14-13, concerning the direction and filing of the Engineer’s Report for the 2014-15 Lighting and Open Space Maintenance Assessments; and the Award Bid of the 2013-14 Maintenance Area 2 Slurry Seal Program.

At the insistence of Council Member Mary Su, Walnut’s Senior Management Analyst, Rosalea Layman explained the details of the City’s proposed Crime Tip Reward Program.  Layman explained that reporting a tip to the police department is the first step in the program and that the reporting individual would receive a reward after a conviction is established.

“It’s difficult to gauge when (the reward will be disbursed) because sometimes it takes a while for a conviction to be determined,” Layman said. “But that is per our program and as soon as we do get the conviction, our staff can review the tip and award the reward.”  Layman also confirmed that each successful crime tip that leads to a conviction would be rewarded with $100.

Captain Jeff Scroggin of the Walnut Sheriff’s Department said that a recent tip in the Three Oaks area of Walnut led to the arrest of three individuals who were in the area with the purpose of burglarizing a home.

“The tip from the resident helped us catch those people,” Scroggin said. “That’s what we’re always after.  Great information that would lead us to these criminals that come into the City.”

After Scroggin addressed the council, Council Member Nancy Tragarz reaffirmed her stance that reporting crimes should not be rewarded and that citizens should be willing to help out the police without an incentive.  The item was approved with Tragarz giving a dissenting vote.

After the council member’s announcements of events from around the City, Mayor Tony Cartagena officially adjourned the meeting at 7:35 p.m.

Diamond Bar: Council Corner – Deputy City Manager Position Created

BY ARIEL CARMONA JR.

(Google Images)

(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.