As a community, I am of the opinion that most of us take our public safety services for granted, knowing that a call in an emergency will get us the help that is needed, as well as believing that our community is always being well protected by services provided by Brea/YL Police (services for YL contracted out to Brea PD). Additionally, I understand and appreciate that it is the duty of our elected officials and their ‘advisors/City Manager/Staff’ to administer the City budget in such a manner as to be fiscally sound.
For forty (40) years the City of Brea Police Department has been contracted to provide police services for our Land of Gracious Living. The contract with the City of Brea for police services will be coming up for consideration before too long. At the November 1, 2011, City Council meeting an agenda item identified as: Update on potential future options for provision of law enforcement services, was discussed,
http://www.ylonline.org/export/MG79451/AgendaFrame.htm
as well as Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens made a presentation outlining public safety/law enforcement offerings should Yorba Linda decide to contract out to the OC Sheriffs.
Having attended nearly all City Council meetings in the past three years or so, I was rather startled by the way the above played out. I sincerely urge all Yorba Linda residents to become knowledgeable on this issue and review the November 1, 2011, Council meeting, City of Yorba Linda Streaming Media Archive , as well as read the staff report——-http://www.ylonline.org/export/MG79451/AS79484/AI79505/DO79533/DO_79533.pdf
A motion was made with the direction to send an 18 month termination notice (for police services) to Brea. That was done in conjunction with the direction for the City Manager to draft a Request for Proposal to Brea and OC Sheriffs, and perhaps Placentia, to make a bid to provide law enforcement services to our community. This motion passed 3-2. This is the way that I comprehend the action on November 1, 2011, please take the time to verify this yourself via the references/links noted above.
This is a very important issue that is being considered in our Land of Gracious Living, and the effort to ‘balance the budget by perhaps changing our public safety/law enforcement services to another entity’ will, indeed, affect every single resident, young to old, in our community. Personally, I have serious reservations about choosing to trim the City Budget, by seeking perhaps a lesser quality of service overall. This ‘coin’ has many sides, IMHO———we need to be on top of ANY and ALL changes being considered, and encourage our City Council to make budget cuts in other areas which only affect a small portion of our community, rather than consider changing our current public safety/police services with Brea Police Department which have been outstandingly satisfactory for the past forty (40) years. Such a change affects every single one of our 60,000 plus, residents.
I urge Yorba Linda citizens to voice their opinions ASAP. Most likely the only opportunity to do so on this public safety/law enforcement issue will be during the public comment time at the beginning of each Council meeting. Please take the time out of your busy schedules to voice your opinions to our City Council. The next meeting is Tuesday, December 6th, 2011, at 6:30 PM, in the Council Chambers at City Hall on Casa Loma. FYI——–Council meetings are the first and third Tuesday of each month, you can check the calendar on the City website, as well as access the agenda and staff reports via the ‘streaming media link.’ Additionally, you can write letters to our Council, using the contact information on the City website.
