The City of Los Alamitos is making up for lost time with long-delayed capital improvement projects as its one-and-a-half-cent sales tax increase continues to generate additional tax revenue for the city.
For years, the City Council in Los Alamitos struggled with mounting pension debt and other deficit spending that changed dramatically when voters approved a 1.5 cent sales tax increase (Measure Y) in 2020.
However, since voters approved the sales tax increase five years ago, the city has fully staffed its police department, added dozens of additional employees and now, it’s making up time with several long-delayed Capital Improvement projects that can now be afforded.
According to City Manager Chet Simmons, the projects “are all driven by money,” and most of the projects, in some way, reduce liability in the city. In addition, Simmons said Development Services Director Ron Noda’s team has done a good job of finding strategic funding partners to share the cost of funding these projects in the city.
City officials said at their October meeting that the CIP project includes $9.7 million in carryover projects, $1.42 million in new projects to create more than $10 million in overall projects.
According to Noda, the City of Los Alamitos CIP schedule includes street improvements, slurry seal, etc., to include Katella design, including medians, Pine Street project, Bloomfield Ave. project, Oak Street project, Reagan Street improvement, Katella Ave. striping, neighborhood signage replacement, improvements to Labourdette Park, Soroptomist Park, Starsbury Park, Laurel Dog Park, and a multi-million comprehensive transformation of the former home of the Youth Center into a multi-purpose building where future Councils will meet.
“There’s 20-some-odd projects they’re all aimed at correcting an issue that potentially creates liability at the end of the day, and so I think the council’s done a great job,” said Simmons.
Noda provided additional specifics on the projects, including a proposed timeline for the ambitious list of capital improvements.
In addition, he said they will be coordinated with ongoing county, state and federal projects so that there is no overlap or wasted funding.
He said the community center conversion, formally known as the Youth Center building, will become a “multi-purpose building” that will not only house Council meetings, but will also become a place where the city’s commissions meet.
In addition, IT equipment will be installed so that the facility can serve as an emergency operations center as needed, and by day, the building will become a recreation center. Noda said the process assessment has been completed and this project is expected to start as early as this month (November).
Noda said electric vehicle charging stations will be installed to support the city’s upcoming senior transportation project and other electric vehicles. The approved capital improvement projects also include several transportation safety projects identified by the city’s transportation committee that had been previously deferred.
In other action, Mayor Shelley Hasselbrink told the Council that during the recent California League of Cities convention in Long Beach, she made progress in putting together a coalition of smaller cities that sometimes have a harder time getting their needs met simply because of their small size.
“I did have the honor of speaking in this session about small cities,” she said. “We are trying to create a small cities group within the League of California Cities for small cities under 30,000 population,” the mayor said.
Small cities make up about 59% of the cities, she said, noting that the small city coalition discussion was very interactive and very positive.
“They’re dealing with the same things that the big cities are,” said Hasselbrink, “including the state mandates,” she said.
In other October action, the Los Al Council…
- Applauded as Police Chief Michael Claborn swore in Grant Gipson, the city’s newest police officer.
- Heard a presentation from Capt. Kyle Kane of the O.C. Fire Authority during Fire Prevention Week. “We encourage Orange County residents to check their alarm systems and support the public safety activities and efforts during fire prevention week,” he said.
- Supported Mayor Hasselbrink who presented a proclamation certificate to Melissa Jahangiri, owner of Stretch Spa, in Recognition of Being Featured in the Mayor’s Business Spotlight.
- Listened to a presentation from Ruby Garcia, founder of a nonprofit entity Aiden and Andy, which is holding an event in the city on Nov. 15.
- Heard Brian Bannon, PIO at Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District, who honored Los Alamitos as one of the most effective in informing their residents about safety procedures regarding mosquitoes.
- Presented a proclamation to the Los Alamitos Neighborhood Preservation Staff in Recognition of Neighborhood Preservation Appreciation Month.