Foothills Sentry - October 2024

Page 3 Foothills Sentry OCTOBER 2024 New Students: Apply Online sccollege.edu/apply Returning Students: Register Online sccollege.edu/register Late Start Classes Begin Oct. 14 Enroll in Fall 2024 Late Start Classes at SCC Ranked #1 Community College in Orange County* T op 10 Military Friendly® School** Top 10 Military Friendly® Spouse School** *2025 Rankings - www.niche.com ** Military Friendly® Schools 2024-2025 - www.militaryfriendly.com GARRETT SMITH FOR ORANGE CITY TREASURER The ONLY Candidate with 10+ years of Finance Experience 2024 Financial Analyst Finance Manager Financial forecasting / budgeting www.smith4treasurer.com Paid for by garrett smith for treasurer City of Orange 2024 - fppc # Pending "Crossing guards" continued from page 1 Orange County cities. If contract- ed, it would reach out to those who had previously worked in the city and rehire them. It would, he said, take about six weeks to get an outsourced program started. Bilodeau reiterated that he was against discontinuing the pro- gram, and agreed with the senti- ments of the public. He also noted that there is now an objective stan- dard to determine where crossing guards are needed (number of pe- destrians, vehicles, accidents), but that Orange’s program had begun long before those standards ex- isted. The councilman urged that data be collected on appropriate locations, and that those locations be staffed as soon as possible. Ana Gutierrez also “echoes the sentiment of the speakers,” re- porting a close call that she had recently witnessed between a child on a bike and a speeding car at an unguarded crosswalk. “We need to reinstate this program now,” she emphasized, “not six weeks from now.” No quick fix Jon Dumitru pressed the chief on the length of time to restart the program. Adams allowed that the outsourcing could be compressed to four weeks, the same amount of time it would take for Orange to get its former crossing guards back and restart the program it- self. The city would have to do background checks again, all of which takes time. And hiring, he added, has been difficult. ACMS guarantees these positions. Dumitru asserted his support of the outsourcing of an “appropri- ate” number of crossing guards, but that the city should not be providing services to the school district for free. He suggested cost sharing, or a reimbursement scheme, be included in the pro- gram. “Grant money is available through SCAG and other agen- cies,” he said, “but all require col- laboration with the school district. And so far, OUSD has said no.” During public comments, Car- los Valenzuela, policy advisor for Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, reported that the supervisor was willing to help, and was seeking money from the county to support the program. John Gyllenhammer advised that Supervisor Don Wag- ner was also willing to help with crossing guard funding. Starting something After a flurry of discussion about how the program could be reinstated – volunteers, grants, cost sharing, outsourcing or not -- Bilodeau made a motion directing staff to bring back a resolution to start the crossing guard program. His motion also included rein- stating the program immediately in the same 16 locations as last year; negotiating a contract with a private vendor; requesting the city traffic engineer to bring back a budget for analysis on 40 po- tential crossing guard locations; engaging with OUSD; and ac- cepting the money offered by Su- pervisors Sarmiento and Wagner. Dumitru said he wanted the resolution to state “outsourced program,” and made a substitute motion. Before the council voted on the issue, Kathy Tavoularis asked for clarification on who is paying for the program: “We don‘t know how much the supervisors are of- fering, and any grant money is likely a one-time offering. How are we paying for this?” Fuzzy math City Manager Tom Kisela ad- vised that the city would be “rob- bing Peter to pay Paul in the short term.” They would pull money from other programs or reduce services elsewhere. “I’m not comfortable pulling money from other programs,” Tavoularis said. She suggested that the resolution contain a price range, not to ex- ceed the $254,000 the city previ- ously paid for crossing guards. “This is a fair compromise,” Arianna Barrios summarized. “We pay what we did last year, but we have options – OUSD, the supervisors, SCAG. We’re not paying for Treats in the Streets and we are postponing salary in- creases. This will give us time to explore those options.” Adams advised the council that ACMS had offered 16 crossing guards for $378,000 if the city ac- cepted within the next two weeks. Sticking to $245,000 would mean starting negotiations anew. Dumitru said he would remove the dollar cap from his motion. It was approved, 7-0. Supervisor Sarmiento has since provided $76,451, Supervisor Wagner, $47,248 Elks celebrate Patriot Day The Orange Elks held its third 9/11 Patriot Day Program in front of Orange City Hall, in remem- brance of those who lost their lives on 9/11. The Elks collabo- rated with the Community Foun- dation of Orange and the Wom- en’s Club of Orange to make this program possible. The Orange High School Ma- rine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) pre- sented the colors, and the Orange Elks Boy Scout Troop 1475 led the audience in the flag salute; Paloma Cortez sang the national anthem. The program included five speakers recalling 9/11: Orange Mayor Dan Slater, Orange Fire Chief Sean DeMetropolis, Or- ange Police Department Capt. Adam Jevec, Jan Genelle and Debbie Kisela. Each speaker re- called how that day influenced them, and shared their memories of that day. Kisela, a flight atten- dant, shared the communications of the flight attendants on the dif- ferent flights before each crashed. Left to right, Debbie Kisela, Jan Genelle, Capt. Adam Jevec, Fire Chief Sean DeMetropolis, Mayor Dan Slater and Elks Exalted Ruler JC Cortez. The OC Fire Authority is seeking reserve fire fighters for stations in Silverado and Modjeska Can- yons. Applications are being ac- cepted until Dec. 1. Applicants must first attend five drill nights at the local stations to ensure they have the desire and ability to be volunteers. Applicants must live within 15 minutes of the station, and be physically agile. For more information, drop by either station on a Wednesday night. See Steve Kerrigan at Station 14 (Silverado) or Bruce Newell at Station 16 (Modjeska).