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Public speakers urge review of large change orders and flag problems with new city app
Summary
During public comment Perris residents raised concerns about frequent and large change orders on public projects and reported difficulties using the city's new mobile app to report issues such as graffiti and abandoned shopping carts.
Several members of the public spoke during the Sept. 9 general public‑comment period, urging council attention to procurement change orders and to usability problems with the city’s new app.
Lupe Gomez told the council September is Suicide Prevention Month and urged city awareness. Gomez also said the city is seeing an increase in change orders that exceed 20% contingencies and asked why projects are routinely returning to the council on the consent calendar with substantial change‑order costs. Using a recent example, Gomez said the Placentia Avenue at Spokane Street storm‑drain improvements had a base contract award of $232,305 (CIP D‑015) and that a proposed change order to remove a raised landscaping median and install stamped concrete at the request of the mayor was $117,102 — roughly 50% of the original contract value. Gomez asked the council, and specifically named Councilman Raab as “the financial conservative,” to investigate recurring high change‑order costs.
Diedra Corona raised usability concerns with the city’s new app. She said the prior app allowed users to take a photo, use GPS and submit a report easily. The new app, she said, makes reporting issues harder and directs users through multiple steps or to other platforms; she urged staff to restore the simpler report workflow to ensure residents without personal contacts can report graffiti, shopping carts or other neighborhood problems.
Council members thanked speakers and said staff would take the comments under advisement. No formal council action was taken during public comment.
