Perhaps someone can explain the difference between a “Budget Workshop,” where the mayor say to dress casually, and a city council Agenda that is amended when there is no urgency involved. Case in point. Included in tonight’s Mission Viejo workshop is agenda Item #3 whose title reads: “Mission Viejo Dog Park.”
In the staff report they state that our “Community Opinion Survey included a question about spending priorities. Respondents were asked to rate 14 different spending items as either a high, medium or low priority or as an item on which no money should be spent. Survey respondents rated building a dog park as follows: high priority 18%, medium priority 26%, low priority 41% and an item on which no money should be spent 14%.” Tonight’s dog park agenda package contains 466 pages with hundreds of pro and con e-mails.
Let me show how the city contrives to avoid back lash by the use of project phasing.
In council discussions the cost of this proposed project is to exceed one million dollars. So they have decided to create a phase one/base bid at a proposed cost of $258,060. Not too long ago former mayor Bill Craycraft asked me how much the original estimate was to expand the Norman P Murray Community and Senior Center and I responded $3.5 million. He said my memory was correct yet through the use of around 15 costly Change Orders that CIP ended up in excess of $16 million.
Let’s compare their May 22, 2007 dog park base bid at $883,072.35 cents Vs this June 9th version where the fencing was reduced from 1,903 linear feet to 1,650. I am doing my best to compare “apples to apples” and do not wish to be accused of engaging in spin. Both RJM Design proposals state that “the above estimate does not include professional fees for design services.”
What the latest Proposal fails to include are: 9 walkway lighting fixtures at $7,500 each, 7 court tables with umbrella at $1,500 each, 10 metal armchairs at $600 each, 5 coffee tables at $700 each, irrigation system at $105,891, soil prep at $35,297, 57,893 square feet of Hydroseed at a cost of $17,367, 50 24 inch box trees at $400 each, 7 36 inch box trees at $800 each, 12,701 square feet of shrub planting at $4.00 each and $4,130 dollars of mulch.
Mission Viejo residents. Do we wish to build a functioning dog park or win another trophy for our trophy case for being the first city in Orange County to spend over one million dollars, in phases under Routine Council Comments subject to less scrutiny, to avoid backlash? Do the dogs really care if the tree they lift their leg on is a sago palm?
And last but not least is a comment from page 2 of the Tennis Center Agenda documentation which reads in part that “should the Project be started after 2010, it is likely that the costs will increase as a result of a newly expanding economy. In addition, if the decision is made to phase the Project, it is anticipated that a phasing of improvements will increase costs both for the reduced scope and any future phases.”
So here is a project at least four times greater in cost yet we propose building a dog park in phases. Consistency is not a virtue of our city manager.
Sometimes city council members read our posts and shift gears just prior to casting their vote such as city council member Trish Kelley responding that she felt the million dollar price tag was too high. She was not alone. Result. No action taken! Back to the drawing board.
Congrats, Larry. It’s easy to make fun of them, but blogs work. I’ve seen votes changed more than a few times due to well-written blog posts.
Mission Viejo – one of the safest Cities to LIVE IN.
What more can a person ask for – a great city, great neighborhoods, beautiful parks and recreation activities, outstanding Senior Citizen Center not to mention all of the EVENTS that our City promotes for the community!
The only thing that is missing -A Dog Park – a place that our families, kids and seniors can enjoy with their Pets.
A Mission Viejo dog resident.
As we own two pedigree Cavalier Spaniels I do not have anything against pets or a dog park. The issue is spending over one million dollars on land owned by the city for specimen trees for them to sniff. Our neighbor cities dog parks cost perhaps $100,000 total. Therein lies the problem