By Susan Motander
The two words Mayor Mary Ann Lutz used repeatedly during her State of the City address at Krikorian Theater on Monday evening were “great” and “renewal.” She started her address saying, “The state of the City is strong, secure and our future is great! In Monrovia … greatness is real.”
Lutz explained that Monrovia is a team (another recurring theme), and delineated the members of the “team” including the other four member of the City Council, the city clerk and treasurer, as well as city staff and members of the city’s boards and commissioners. She also included the school board and all those who work for the schools as part of the “team.” She noted that all the community’s volunteers, individuals as well as members of clubs and various organizations in town, were part of the “team” as well.
Citing the difficulty of overcoming the recession that she noted began in 2008, the mayor announced that despite the difficult economic times, Monrovia had “continued to do amazing things” and had done so while maintaining a balanced budget.
She mentioned many accomplishments made in the preceding year including the completion of the new fire-training center at Station Two and the new police dispatch center, both of which were made possible through grants; the fire department from a Homeland Security grant and the police from the California Office of Emergency Management 9-1-1 Program.
She listed many other grants the city had procured to improve everything from WIFI at the Library to new equipment at Julian Fisher Park, from a Childhood Obesity Prevention Grant to a Native Plant Sale at Canyon Park.
She noted that grant money had been used to improve the infrastructure of the city. The first instance she mentioned was again the playground equipment and the creation of a bio-swale at Julian Fisher Park. Then she noted the improvements at Grand Avenue Park that utilized used equipment for cost savings.
She called the street and utility infrastructure a “key priority” and said the city had “started working on repairs,” saying the council had commissioned Sewer and Water Master Plans. She also said the staff had been ordered to finalize a street improvement plan. She also discussed the current Station Square complex and its expected completion this summer.
Throughout her address Lutz stressed all the things the city had done through the preceding year: coping with the aftermath of the 2013 Madison fire, dealing with the drought, overcoming the financial difficulties resulting from the end of Redevelopment, managing the storm water runoff mandate from Sacramento.
The mayor also discussed a goal-setting workshop in which the Council engaged recently. She said the concept of Renewal was the unifying theme of that workshop and the goals the Council set for itself and the city. She said, “We discussed the fact that during the past several years, we have as an organization survived the great recession. We have weathered budget cuts. And we have implemented new ways of serving the community with excellence.
“Now, with the economy improving and our economic situation stabilizing, we have a unique opportunity to begin a process of RENEWAL throughout Monrovia,” she continued.
Lutz said they had created four strategic goals: 1. Enhance Community Infrastructure, 2. Enhance Organizational Capacity, 3. Enhance Fiscal Sustainability, and 4. Enhance Relationships with the Community.
She spoke of fixing our infrastructure issues with the water and sewer lines and upgrading the medians on Huntington Drive. She also spoke of a program to “renew” every street in poor condition.
She also spoke of renewing “certain elements of our organization to ensure” that it is “the most efficient and effective operation that it was can be.” Lutz also discusses renewing the city’s approach to economic development including growing the high-tech sector of the economy.
In regard to the last goal she talked of the challenges facing the police department with the recent changes in the definition of certain crimes and the decriminalization of others. However she reported that we have one of the lowest crime rates in the San Gabriel Valley and our own lowest crime rate in decades (one wonders how much of that is due to the reclassification of various crimes ed.). With all this in mind, she reiterated her theme of renewal saying we needed to “renew our commitment to Community Oriented Policing.”
She finished by saying, “We shall change the world that is Monrovia for the better. Because we are Monrovia. Because greatness is real.”
