Serving
Wednesday
Garden Grove Huntington Beach Stanton Westminster
Dec. 19,2018
Print edition of the Orange CountyTribune
www.orangecountytribune.com n Non-partisan news, opinion, arts and sports
GGPD WILL EXPAND BY 16 OFFICERS Measure O funds will go to law enforcement uses By Jim Tortolano Orange County Tribune As many as 16 new positions in the police department are expected to be created to fight crime and preserve order in Garden Grove as a consequence of the approval of the Measure O one-cent sales tax increase by Garden Grove voters on Nov. 6 At a press conference in City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, city leaders unveiled plans – still to be approved by the city council – to beef up law enforcement in the Big Strawberry. City Manager Scott Stiles began by saluting voters for their approval of the tax levy. “We want to thank our community for showing confidence that we will use
Measure O revenues so that great services will be continued to be provided to Garden Grove.” He added “We have been determined to come out of the gate with immediate action steps that we believe reflect the wishes of the community when they approved Measure O.” The proposal includes the recruitment of: • 10 full-time police officers; • one full-time police sergeant; • five new police support personnel (dispatchers, records specialists, community service officers). • Such recruitment will begin immediately, with a focus on bilingual officers. • One police officer would be dedicated to the Special
TODD ELGIN, Garden Grove police chief, at press conference in City Hall on Tuesday on plans to use Measure O funds to beef up law enforcement. At left is Mayor Steve Jones, and at right is Councilmember Stephanie Klopfenstein (Orange County Tribune photo). Resources Team, which addresses issues related to homelessness. Police chief Todd Elgin told the press and others at the conference “Today is a great day for the Garden Grove Police Department.” He outlined how the city had changed from a bedroom community into what’s becoming a “big city.”
He praised the work of an undermanned police force and said, “Now … now we have the chance to do something great.” Currently there are 168 sworn personnel positions in the GGPD, down from a peak of 175 in 1998. Garden Grove has generally had the smallest police force per capita of any Orange Coun-
n HUNT. BEACH CITY COUNCIL
ty city. Improvements aren’t limited to more personnel. A new public safety building – to replace the current one, which dates back to the early 1970s – is envisioned with the creation of requests for proposals to design a new facility. The sales tax to pay for all of this doesn’t kick in
until April 1, 2019, and the funds won’t be available until July 2019. Given the time necessary to recruit and hire new officers, the new and additional officers probably won’t start duty until January 2019. Also, the council will create a citizen oversight committee to monitor the use of Measure O funds.
FIRE ON THE WATER
‘Surf City 3’ TV channel considered
Rocco as vice president for 2019. Several local elected officials including Assemblyman Diep, Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones, Westminster Mayor Tri Ta, and members of the Westminster School District Board of Education attended the meeting to voice support
The “new” Huntington Beach City Council dug into a fairly routine agenda on Monday and took on a wide variety of topics in the last meeting of 2018. It was the first full council meeting with new Mayor Erik Peterson and new member Kim Carr. In a study session before the public portion of the meeting, the council heard a presentation on a proposal to exit the Public Cable Television Authority, which provides local programming for Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Stanton and Westminster. The city is proposing to create its own TV channel to be named “Surf City 3.” Also on Monday night, the council: • approved the appointment of Kelly Rodriguez to the position of assistant
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BOB HARDEN and Lan Nguyen take the oath of office for another four-year term serving on the GGUSD Board of Education during a swearing-in ceremony led by California Assemblyman Tyler Diep (GGUSD photo).
GGUSD school board members are sworn in for new terms At its Dec.18 meeting, the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education held a swearing-in ceremony for Bob Harden who was re-elected during the November 2018 election and Lan Nguyen who was appointed to the position due to running unopposed. The oath of office was administered by California State Assemblyman Tyler
n GARDEN GROVE SCHOOL BOARD
Diep. The swearing-in ceremony was held during the Board of Education’s annual organizational meeting, which takes place each December to select the board’s president and vice president. The Board of Education voted to elect Lan Nguyen as president and Trustee Teri
FIREFIGHTERS battle a blaze in the Huntington Harbour area Thursday night. There were no injuries and the cause is under investigation (HBFD photo).
Firefighters knock down Harbour blaze Firefighters in Huntington Beach Thursday night extinguished a house fire in the Huntington Harbour area. According to the HBFD, the blaze was reported at about 7:13 p.m. at 16692 Wanderer Lane. They labored to keep the fire on the two-story home from spreading to adjacent structures on either side. No firefighters or civilians were injured and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
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