On Monday Councilwoman Schlicht questioned an item listed on the City check register in the amount of $6,900 for two RV rentals. City Manager Dennis Wilberg replied the RVs were used for ‘staging’ purposes on the morning of the parade. The two units were driven to the Parade location on December 31 and returned on January 1. He said staging was not included in the $300,000 contract with Fiesta Floats, the builder of the float. He did not explain whether the City sought volunteers to drive and contribute private RVs.
Mayor Ury subsequently tried to coax Schlicht to initiate her questions to staff beforehand, instead of at the public meeting. He also tried to restrain her from making any adverse comments in response to answers from staff.
*On Wednesday the City revised the net cost downward from $6,900 (stated at Monday’s council meeting) to $5,842.20.
.jpg)
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally support Cathy for exposing these “routine check register” expenditures to the public and readers of the Mission Viejo Dispatch. Last night the council approved three agenda items authorizing payments of around $5 million dollars to vendors. The 100,000 residents of Mission Viejo have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. She has no obligation to the mayor or city staff to make phone calls to them prior to the meeting providing a heads up so they can have time to engage in any damage control.
It would appear that council person Ury wants to stifle transparency in government. An expenditure of this amount should be exposed and shows very poor planning by the city manager.
Many residents own RV’s. Was there ever a call for their “loan” for this type of purpose by the city manager?
If she had been given advance notice of this expense, maybe even Council Person Schlicht would have loaned her RV to save money for the city.
$6K to rent 2 RVs for one overnight use?!!!!
You’ve got to be kidding! I personally know several people who would have happily provided their RVs. This kind of profligate spending is reminiscent of the those $500.00 toilet seats the Feds buy!
They could have at least asked around first for volunteers with RVs. This is the kind of fiscal nonsense that has the entire country in economic trouble!
Unfortunately, it appears our pols learn this behavior very early on, even at the city level. By accepting and/or ignoring this at all levels, we all are fools for letting our money be wasted.
$6K to rent 2 RVs for one overnight use?!!!!
You’ve got to be kidding! I personally know several people who would have happily provided their RVs. This kind of profligate spending is reminiscent of the those $500.00 toilet seats the Feds buy!
They could have at least asked around first for volunteers with RVs. This is the kind of fiscal nonsense that has the entire country in economic trouble!
Unfortunately, it appears our pols learn this behavior very early on, even at the city level. By accepting and/or ignoring this at all levels, we all are fools for letting our money be wasted.
Here we go again…trying to “hide” spent money from the public. Sure does not sound like this was planned out well.
I hereby make a MOTION to NOT waste any more money on Rose floats. Can we have a second????
It is not surprising that Mister Ury does not like the prolific and irresponsible spending and waste of our resources to become widely known. But if he doesn’t don’t to be put on the spot, there is a really simple trick to avoiding uncomfortable questions such as the one Cathy was asking about the RV item on the register.
He could act the part he was elected for and see that City Management acts responsibly with our dollars.
So simple! Yet apparently so hard!
Thank you, Cathy! Please continue to unveil the tremendous waste that is taking place in our City. Mission Viejo’s residents need to know how much our city management has become used to thoughtless spending.
It is refreshing to have Cathy on the City Council to bring to light issues which seem to have been shrouded for too long. Exposing the Mission Viejo city checkbook is enlightening for citizens and heightens a necessary awareness of how taxpayer funds are being used and/or misused. This type of scrutiny and transparency should be wecomed by all city employees including council members. If not, there-in lies a bigger problem.
I can tell from Ury’s position on this and other similar matters that he wants to continue operating as though us taxpayers do not have the need to know anything about how our money is spent.
I and many, many others like myself want to encourage Cathy to keep right on top of these important issues.
In fact we want every new and some older significant expenditures to pass the citizen test and be completely justified before spending is committed. We’ll decide what is significant. Ury and his cohorts have brought our reactions to the forefront and now will have to prove that they actually can execute the job that we elected them to do.