1. Assist the Fallen Warriors Committee in completing the Veterans Memorial they will build around the flag pole at Beattie Park. This will honor all Lompoc area veterans who gave their lives in the military.

 

2. Assist the Motor Sports Committee in completing the Motor Sports Park on unused land on the north side of the Lompoc Airport. The City has already received an almost one million dollar grant from the Off Road Vehicle Division of California State Parks for the Motocross tracks in the park. The Committee continues to raise money for the International Hot Rod Association sanctioned one eighth mile drag strip to provide legal, supervised racing and at the same time, promoting racing as a competitive sport and tourist draw.

 

3. Carry forward a down payment assistance program to help qualified Lompoc residents buy homes. The council has voted to use most of the three million dollar housing in lieu money we have in the bank to fund second trust deeds that must be repaid when the home is sold or refinanced. This is similar to a successful city program in the 1980s.

 

4. With the coming of our new industrial park next year we must develop better promotional materials and a solicitation plan to bring business and jobs to the industrial park. As in the past, some prospective businesses will want to talk with the Mayor, some with Staff and some with both. We will have an approach to meet each need.

 

5. The Fire Department has had three great successes to reduce the response time to medical calls and save lives. The six additional fire fighters funded with a federal grant along with adding the third response unit, Rescue One, has made a unit available when one is needed without having to wait for County Fire to come from the Village. The new Police and Fire dispatch system will connect directly to the Mobile Data Terminals in the fire vehicles and cut response time. The last improvement we need is the automated traffic signal control system that turns lights green for approaching fire units and red in all other directions. This is our next objective to fund.

 

6. The gangs in Lompoc have been brought under control over the last four years by the efforts of the Lompoc Police Department. Our new Police Chief brings experience from another state that will provide new ideas to reduce gangs. The gang life takes away the life opportunities of its members and our community.

 

7. I have worked closely with the Hancock College President Kevin Walthers and the Petroleum Education Council to bring more oil industry training to the Lompoc Campus. We are also working together to bring some oil industry specific fire training props to the campus for additional classes.

 

8. Youth sports facility improvements are great for our youth to use but also provide economic benefits to the community from visiting teams. With ideas from the Economic Development Committee we have made progress but there is much more we can do. As our tourism grows we will have more funds available to expand and improve our youth sports facilities.

 

9. With the budget cuts of the last six years our parks have deteriorated. The gopher abatement program I lead in 2011 has helped but it is time to look at our parks and determine what changes we need to make to create more easily maintained and functional parks. The long leaning Ryon Park arch is on this list.

 

10. The downtown Lompoc Theater has been tied up in the State’s liquidation of the former Lompoc City Redevelopment Agency. By year end we hope to have it released and begin the restoration that will bring new life to downtown.

 

11. With the increase of wineries in Lompoc to 38, it is now time to work with the Hotel Association and the Wineries to increase the number of wine tourists that visit Lompoc and the number that stay here, recreate here and return again soon.

 

12. Santa Barbara County has an effective program for purchasing and contracting locally with little or no cost. It is time to move this forward and keep city dollars with local businesses that employ local workers.

 

13. Currently the city has replaced only a few hundred of its 2,297 sodium street lights with LED lights. The LED lights provide better light for residents and the police. They reduce electric consumption by over 50%. Financing is available for a replacement program that uses the electricity savings to pay for the new LED lights. Additionally, not all streets and alleys in town have the same number of lights. This upgrade will be the opportunity to provide equal lighting to all areas and additional lights in areas with gang problems.

 

14. The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments has just completed a Regional Transportation Needs Assessment covering from now through 2040. The key concept in the assessment is to move the jobs to where the workers live. I have reviewed our future land needs. Next year the council must have a detailed discussion of the City’s future needs. We have been fortunate that decisions made by the city councils in the 1970s have provided for our needs until now. We must provide the same foresight for future councils.