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6 • THE <strong>Reader</strong><br />
<strong>SCV</strong> Economic Outlook<br />
event <strong>March</strong> 10<br />
By Tammy Marashlian<br />
Staff Writer<br />
Tickets are still available for the <strong>March</strong><br />
10 <strong>SCV</strong> Economic Outlook, a unique<br />
event that gives the Santa Clarita Valley<br />
community an in-depth look at the local<br />
economy for<br />
the year ahead.<br />
The yearly<br />
event, organized<br />
by the <strong>SCV</strong><br />
Economic Dev<br />
e l o p m e n t<br />
Corp. and College<br />
of the<br />
Canyons, features<br />
Dr. Mark<br />
Schniepp of the<br />
California Economic<br />
Forecast, Dr. Mark Schniepp<br />
Wells Fargo<br />
economist Mark Vitner and Amy Lemisch, executive<br />
director of the California Film Commission.<br />
The event is scheduled 1:30 to 5 p.m.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 10 at the Hyatt Regency Valencia. The<br />
conference, with capacity for about 300 people,<br />
typically sells out. Topics include the international<br />
economy, especially involving<br />
China, oil prices and global markets, the national<br />
economic forecast, and data on the<br />
housing market,<br />
commercial<br />
and industrial<br />
developments.<br />
“The event is<br />
geared at the<br />
business leaders<br />
and decision<br />
makers in<br />
the Santa<br />
Clarita Valley,”<br />
said Holly<br />
S c h r o e d e r ,<br />
<strong>SCV</strong>EDC President<br />
and CEO. “The presentations by the two<br />
economists will give good perspectives on<br />
the economy, both on the international level<br />
and all the way down to the Santa Clarita Valley<br />
economy. We get a local look and that is<br />
distinct.”<br />
Unlike previous years, this year’s outlook<br />
includes specific discussion on filming and its<br />
role in the <strong>SCV</strong>, Schroeder said.<br />
“She’ll talk a bit about the industry in California,<br />
as well<br />
as in the Santa<br />
Clarita Valley,”<br />
Schroeder said.<br />
“Since filming in<br />
the Santa<br />
Clarita Valley is<br />
one of our priority<br />
industries,<br />
we thought that<br />
p e r s p e c t i v e<br />
would be very<br />
Mark Vitner<br />
interesting to<br />
the attendees.”<br />
Amy Lemisch<br />
I n c l u d e d<br />
with the price of admission, attendees will<br />
take home an in-depth report with economic<br />
data and the <strong>SCV</strong> forecast. While there are<br />
other economic outlook events across Los<br />
Angeles County, none focus so specifically on<br />
the local community, Schroeder said.<br />
“It’s a lot of information,” Schroeder said.<br />
“It’s a data-packed event.”<br />
Tickets can be purchased online at<br />
scvedc.org/outlook. R<br />
water merger<br />
<strong>March</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
Opponent claims violations of state open meeting law<br />
By Robb Fulcher<br />
Staff Writer<br />
Acritic of a potential merger of two valley<br />
water agencies alleges that officials<br />
broke the state’s open meeting law as<br />
they discussed the possible merger.<br />
The allegation was denied by officials considering<br />
the merger.<br />
The idea of merging the valley’s water<br />
wholesaler, the Castaic Lake Water Agency<br />
(CLWA), with retailer Newhall County Water<br />
District (NCWD), gained momentum early<br />
last year, as representatives of the two entities<br />
met to try to settle legal disputes between<br />
them.<br />
In a letter to the Los Angeles County District<br />
Attorney’s Office, Lynne Plambeck, an<br />
NCWD board member and critic of the possible<br />
merger, accused the NCWD board of violating<br />
state law when it met in closed session<br />
Jan. 14 “as to whether or not the district<br />
should proceed with consolidation” with<br />
CLWA.<br />
“No report of the action taken was made<br />
after the end of the closed session,” Plambeck<br />
wrote.<br />
Plambeck also alleged that an ad hoc committee,<br />
made up of representatives of the two<br />
agencies, broke the law by failing to notify the<br />
public that it was discussing a potential<br />
merger.<br />
The public meeting law limits the topics<br />
that can be discussed behind closed doors. If<br />
prosecutors find that a public agency improperly<br />
made a decision in a closed session,<br />
they typically direct the agency to make the<br />
decision over again in an open session.<br />
The law does not reverse the decisions of<br />
public agencies, but is designed in part to<br />
help the voting public monitor the practices<br />
of public agencies.<br />
Plambeck cited a notice for a Feb. 4 public<br />
workshop on the potential merger, which<br />
stated that for “roughly one year” representatives<br />
of the two agencies “have been discussing<br />
ways to enhance regional<br />
collaboration, benefit ratepayers and advance<br />
water reliability across the region.”<br />
Plambeck argues that under the state law,<br />
the ad hoc committee constitutes a “committee<br />
of a legislative body,” that is governed by<br />
the law.<br />
Officials defending the merger discussions<br />
said the ad hoc committee, and the NCWD<br />
board, had been meeting to discuss ongoing<br />
lawsuits between the two agencies, which is<br />
allowed under the state law. The merger idea<br />
developed as a way to settle the lawsuits, they<br />
said.<br />
Discussions of pending litigation are allowed<br />
in closed session under the state’s<br />
open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.<br />
Plambeck contends the discussions “have<br />
been about consolidation, not settling a lawsuit.”<br />
NCWD General Manager Steve Cole denied<br />
that the open meeting law had been broken.<br />
“We’ve gone above and beyond what’s required.<br />
We firmly stand behind our process,”<br />
blue light SPeCial<br />
Santa Clarita shines a blue light on traffic violations<br />
New traffic enforcement tool<br />
installed at seven intersections<br />
In an effort to improve traffic safety at<br />
seven major intersections, the City of<br />
Santa Clarita has installed new blue light<br />
enforcers which serve as red light violation<br />
detectors on traffic signals at each site.<br />
The seven locations were chosen due to<br />
their high incidents of red light violations. A<br />
total of 15 blue lights have been installed at<br />
the following intersections: Bouquet Canyon<br />
Road and Newhall Ranch Road, McBean<br />
Parkway and Valencia Boulevard, McBean<br />
Parkway and Magic Mountain Parkway,<br />
McBean Parkway and Newhall Ranch Road,<br />
Bouquet Canyon Road and Seco Canyon<br />
Road, Soledad Canyon Road and Whites<br />
Canyon Road and Lyons Avenue and Orchard<br />
Village Road.<br />
The blue light allows sheriff deputies to<br />
observe the status of a red light from across<br />
the street. The light illuminates when a traffic<br />
signal changes to red, allowing the sheriff’s<br />
deputy to safely and easily monitor and<br />
address motorists running the red light,<br />
without having to pursue a vehicle through<br />
an intersection. The blue lights are not red<br />
light cameras.<br />
The installations of these traffic engineering<br />
tools were added as part of the City’s<br />
focus this year to improve traffic safety which<br />
also includes working with the Santa Clarita<br />
Valley Sheriff’s Department on more enforcement,<br />
and increasing education and outreach<br />
to encourage safer driving.<br />
The City of Santa Clarita has installed new blue light<br />
enforcers which serve as red light violation detectors<br />
on traffic signals at each site.<br />
“We’re embarking on increased traffic enforcement<br />
and to combat issues that are the<br />
cause of the majority of traffic accidents in<br />
Santa Clarita, such as speeding, failure to<br />
yield, distracted driving and various other<br />
unsafe driving habits,” said Mayor Bob Kellar.<br />
“The new blue lights are a traffic enforcement<br />
tool that we hope will ultimately improve<br />
traffic safety,” he added.<br />
For more information about this project,<br />
please contact Andrew Yi, City Traffic Engineer<br />
at (661) 255-4326 or at AYI@santaclarita.com.<br />
he said.<br />
He said no vote was taken at the Jan. 14<br />
meeting.<br />
“The heart of the matter has been, and continues<br />
to be, settling litigation between public<br />
agencies,” Cole said.<br />
Cole said a response to the letter would be<br />
prepared.<br />
Joan Dunn, a former NCWD board member,<br />
and her husband Ed Dunn, a former CLWA<br />
board member, said they follow board meetings<br />
closely and were surprised to find that<br />
discussions of a potential merger had been<br />
going on for so long, prior to the Feb. 4 workshop.<br />
At the workshop, the Dunns spoke in opposition<br />
to a merger. The two have called for<br />
a forensic audit to determine the state of the<br />
agencies’ finances.<br />
Robert Sagehorn, former general manager<br />
of CLWA, spoke in favor of a merger. In an interview,<br />
he said the intricacies of managing<br />
imported water, local groundwater and reclaimed<br />
water would be better navigated by a<br />
larger, more coordinated agency.<br />
Officials involved in discussions of creating<br />
a new agency have emphasized that no decision<br />
has been made.<br />
Proponents of a merger say it would save<br />
money, secure more state grants for water<br />
projects, and better coordinate a complex<br />
web of water transmission issues. Critics say<br />
a merger could bring rate hikes, and would<br />
create a water “monopoly” too large and remote<br />
for consumers to control. R<br />
Earth Arbor Day event<br />
coming to Central Park<br />
By Ken Striplin<br />
Santa Clarita city manager<br />
Presented in partnership with the <strong>SCV</strong><br />
Family of Water Supplies, Earth Arbor<br />
Day is a fun, festive and free way to learn<br />
about new eco-friendly products, programs<br />
and local organizations, as well as to increase<br />
your family’s environmental awareness.<br />
The <strong>2016</strong> Earth Arbor Day event will be<br />
held on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 5<br />
p.m. at Central Park, located at 27150 Bouquet<br />
Canyon Road. The event will include six<br />
interactive zones including; the Community<br />
Zone, the Eco Zone, an Alternative Transportation<br />
Car Show, the Children’s Zone, the<br />
Tree Zone and the Water Conservation Zone.<br />
Entertainment, hands on activities and educational<br />
displays, together with creative recycled<br />
art exhibits and decorated residential<br />
recycling carts make for a very green day in<br />
Santa Clarita!<br />
If that isn’t green enough, you will also be<br />
able to take home a bag of garden mulch created<br />
from last year’s Christmas trees. And if<br />
you are bringing the young ones, they can<br />
tour the City’s Community Gardens, learn<br />
about how helpful ladybugs are for the garden,<br />
make scarves from old t-shirts and bring<br />
home an herb plant.<br />
The Castaic Lake Water Agency is offering<br />
guided tours of their Conservatory Garden<br />
located above the park site. Live musical entertainment<br />
and animal show, plus an interactive<br />
water conservation demonstration are<br />
also included. For more information on the<br />
City’s Earth Arbor Day event, check out:<br />
GreenSanta Clarita.com.