Foothills Sentry - July 2021

Foothills Sentry Page 2 July 2021 tracts for El Modena and OPA to the next meeting, he said, “no, just El Modena.” No one, apparently, heard that exchange or paid attention to it. On May 26, a Wagner staffer sent the OPA board an email saying that “Yesterday, Don did pull the OPA manure disposal section of the contract, requesting that staff look into this. Now from what I understand that actually means the contract with Waste Manage- ment.” The staffer agreed to set up a meeting with Wagner, OPA and “representatives from Waste Management.” Hitting the fan For the next two weeks, OPA board members believed that the WM contract had not been signed and that they were going to have an opportunity to contest the ma- nure collection fees. The contract with Waste Man- agement had, however, been signed on May 26. When OPA board members met with Wagner and county staff on June 7, they were shocked to learn that the contract was a done deal. They were told the county had negoti- ated WM’s manure rates down a bit, but there was nothing more to talk about. “We were under the impres- sion that they were calling the meeting to talk with us because we thought we still had options,” Sherry Panttaja says, “which was not the case.” The price is sleight When Waste Management’s new rates were published, how- ever, the fees had crept back up. A two-cubic-yard container col- lected three times a week will cost $636 a month. That’s more than double the rate Waste Man- agement previously charged, and seven times higher than what Or- ange residents pay for the identi- cal service. The Board of Supervisors ap- proved the CR&R contract for El Modena at its June 8 board meeting. Wagner said he was dis- appointed that Ware was not the winning bidder, noting its few customer complaints and long service to the county, but recog- nized that since CR&R had scored higher in the bidding process, it should be awarded the contract. See "OPA" continued from page 1 Orange City Council ducks raising rainbow flag By Tina Richards Instead of deciding whether or not the rainbow Pride flag should be flown over city hall during Pride month, the Orange City Council opted to revisit an ordinance that allows “flags of respect” to fly along with federal, state and city flags on the munici- pal flag pole. A number of cities in Orange County flew the rainbow flag during June to demonstrate the inclusion of, and support for, the LGBTQ community in their juris- dictions. Orange Councilwoman Arianna Barrios had, at the May 25 council meeting, asked that a discussion about flying the Pride flag be agendized for the June meeting. At that time, she was told a city ordinance allowed only govern- ment flags to be flown on city property, and there was no point in discussing the item. Barrios researched the ordinance cited and found that it, in fact, did not preclude other flags from being flown. She brought up the topic again at the council’s June 8 meet- ing, advising her colleagues that the policy states, “the city should fly ‘required national, state, city flags and other flags of respect.”’ The Ides of pride A half-dozen public com- menters shared their experiences as members of the LGBTQ com- munity and the discrimination they endured. Noting a flurry of emails and phone calls in addi- tion to the in-person speakers asking the city to recognize Pride month with the rainbow flag, Bar- rios asked the council to consider flying the Pride flag to acknowl- edge community members who have been “unheard, unseen and historically marginalized.” When Barrios finished speak- ing, Mayor Mark Murphy intro- duced the next agenda item, not- ing there seemed to be no further discussion forthcoming from other council members. “Wait,” Ana Gutierrez said, “I’ve been waving my hand to speak.” She reminded the council that the city had issued an “Or- ange stands together” proclama- tion last year, and just recently a proclamation recognizing the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community. “The speak- ers tonight helped us understand the importance of putting words into action,” she advised. “By fly- ing the flag, we make a statement of inclusion.” Much to be said Gutierrez’s comments led to the discussion on the topic that Barrios had asked for in the first place. “It’s important for me to un- derstand this issue,” Kim Nich- ols said. “As long as I’ve been here, we fly the flag of the Unit- ed States. That represents every single person in this city. Every single one.” She reported finding references to 98 separate “aware- ness” ribbons, and 150 more list- ed underneath them. “We can’t fly 150 flags. We need to address this as a policy issue. We need to agendize this to decide how we’re going to go forward. I don’t like placing people in boxes. I want to bring people together. I would support a proclamation. That’s how we can communicate.” Chip Monaco admitted he was conflicted. He applauded one of the speakers specifically, and said he’d like to learn more about the LGBTQ community. “I believe love is love and hate is hate,” he affirmed. “My delicate balance is to represent everyone in the city without alienating anyone. Chip the individual would fly the flag. Councilman Monaco has to consider people who don’t agree with what Chip would do. This is about a discussion, not a fight. I’m afraid raising the flag would create more of a fight than a dis- cussion.” Jon Dumitru took a harder line. “We have to have a policy discus- sion,” he said. “A rally [referring to the speakers} is not a discus- sion. The Pride flag is a political statement; it’s one of the best known political symbols in the world. The city should have a dis- cussion about whether a political flag should be flown on taxpayer property. We would open the door to every other flag. I can’t sup- port flying it; it sets the city up to tell someone ‘no’ in the future.” YOU CELEBRATE. WE PROTECT. jadtec.com $ 15 95 /mo SECURITY JADTEC Protecting your family, home and business from burglary, fire and medical emergencies. 714 282 0828 | jadtec.com aco 4202 Words supercede action “If we don’t fly the flag it, doesn’t mean we are bigots,” Kathy Tolouvaris declared. “I don’t want Orange to be open for business for flags. I think words matter. The flag will go up and then come down. But words stay forever. If we seven council mem- bers say they are part of our com- munity, we love them, we support them, those are words that last forever. You can hold us account- able for those words. In 30 days, that flag comes down." Tolouvaris subsequently pre- sented a proclamation she had written acknowledging the LG- BTQ community, and suggested all the council members sign it. Murphy agreed, “I would en- courage the council to focus on the regulation regarding flags. We should agendize that. It’s a policy not specific to a particular flag. A proclamation should have collec- tive agreement.” Murphy suggested that every council member who wants to should sign the proclamation, not just the mayor. “That,” he said “would be a first in the City of Orange.”