How to "Put Lake Forest First"

Yesterday we looked at spending by the City in the City and we found that less than 2% of the October checks were written to people/businesses in Lake Forest. Not only is that low, it’s the lowest figure since I began tracking. So here are some suggestions that will get some more of our money going into the pockets of the people who live and work here.

CITY SPENDING COMMITTEE

We need to get a group of people in a room and go through the City’s budget and our spending patterns. How are we spending our money? On whom? For what?

With this profile in hand, we can discuss ways to go out to the community, share this data, and encourage local residents and businesses to offer their services and products.

This committee should be composed of the City’s Finance Director (or designee), representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, and some small business people who are not on the Chamber. Probably the Deputy City Manager would be a good help too, even though he seems busy with lots of other projects. But really - are there many projects that are more important than helping our residents and businesses?

BTW – I see this as a Committee and not a Commission. That will allow greater flexibility. I also see it as having 3 to 6 month life. Once set up I think it could be successfully transitioned to the staff.

WORKSHOPS

Once we know how much money is spent on what kinds of services and products, we can tailor workshops to local people and businesses. The recent “Government Contracting” workshop held by the City drew a mere 16 businesses from Lake Forest with nearly 100 from other cities. That makes no sense. What are we doing helping businesses in other cities get contracts with our City? That’s the problem, not the solution.

TRACKING

We need to measure how much of our budget goes to our residents and businesses. Call it an index. Every warrant register should contain, on page 1, the current index as well as the historical data. This will tell us at a glance how well we’re doing and if we’re going in the right direction.

SETTING PRIORITIES

There should be an affirmative effort that when a local resident or business offers a service or product, we do business at home first. No one wants the City to buy anything for more money and less quality just because it can be purchased in the City. But where the differences are marginal, preference should go to our own people and businesses.

HIRING

Almost all the top managers for the City don’t live in the City. Does that make any sense? In fact there are many people who live in Lake Forest and hold substantial positions in city government in other cities. All things considered we’d be better served if our top managers also lived in the City. Why?

·  They’d spend less time traveling

·  They’d be able to participate more fully in afterhours activities

·  They’d have a vested interest in making life better for people who live in the City

·  They’d have a better understanding of what life is like in the City

Once again, no one is saying that we want a less qualified person holding down a job just because they live here. But the truth is, it looks like we have the opposite policy in place.

JOB FAIRS

Job Fairs are a great way to help people and businesses. As the economy rebounds, local businesses will be adding staff, and the City, along with the Chamber, should be leading the way. There are a number of benefits to doing this including reducing traffic, giving employees more access to attend family events (school plays, sports games, etc.), and strengthening the bond between the business and the community.

LOCAL EVENTS

Our City has all kinds of local events that are happening, and a little push and some backing from the City wouldn’t hurt. For example, Patch blogger “Homer” recently encouraged us to attend the ETHS “Bull-tique” which is held annually in mid- November. What a great place for Lake Forest residents to spend money on Lake Forest residents, so why shouldn’t this appear in the City’s Calendar? Right now the City’s “Full Calendar” does have a few non-City sponsored events, but why not have a truly Full Calendar that includes events like this?

GIVE IT A CHANCE

To the people who save “no, it’s not possible”, I say “Nonsense.” When I was President of Lake 1 HOA we spent more than 30% of our budget on local people and businesses. When I ran for City Council in 2010, 48% of my spending was in the City. In 2012, the figure was 77%. Yes, it takes more time and effort to be sure that your money is spent in your own city, but the effort is worthwhile. Spending our money on businesses in our City means that the City’s proportion of the sales tax income will increase, and that means more money the City can spend making our life better. Spending money on the people who live in our city means their income rises, and they can spend more money in the City, purchase more expensive homes, etc. It’s a real “win win” situation.

BEYOND RHETORIC

It’s time to do more than pay lip service to spending more money in our City. Councilmen Nick and Robinson are on the right track, but the train is moving sooooooooooo slowly. Let’s pick up the speed and do a better job taking care of the people and the businesses in Lake Forest. As soon as possible, the City needs to establish the Spending Committee so we can put our collective minds and energies together.

PS - I take responsibility for this article, but some of the ideas and thoughts come from elsewhere and result from nearly a year-long's continuing conversation with Councilmen Robinson and Nick.