La Verne departments report community outreach, events and routine operations

Vice Mayor and members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen heard departmental reports at their Oct. 9 meeting covering police community engagement, a fire-department address database, parks and library fall programming, finance snapshots and water-plant operations.

The reports provided routine operational updates and upcoming community events, and explained resources residents can use. City leaders framed the items as informational; no formal policy changes were proposed during the reports.

Police: The police chief reviewed the department's monthly packet and pointed to a year-to-date drop in a measure compared with the prior year, saying, "You see a significant drop compared to last year from this year. So we're proud of that, working hard." The chief credited public-information officer Donna Tracy for outreach and said National Night Out included demonstrations by the canine unit, SWAT elements, drone operators and a Bearcat vehicle, and "there was a lot of interaction with the community." The item was informational and drew no board action.

Fire: Ronnie Beasley of the fire department urged residents to use a community-connect application hosted on the city website that stores address-specific information for first responders. Beasley said the database currently lists about 150 addresses and encouraged residents and businesses to add details such as number of occupants, children, pets and emergency contacts so dispatchers and responders can see the same information. The board did not act on the item; it was presented as a service outreach.

Parks and recreation: David McGowan summarized maintenance workload and flagged fall events. The department reported 97 maintenance help-desk tickets and roughly 728.5 staff hours for past events. McGowan confirmed the fall festival and parade were held Sept. 30 and said the next major event is "Goblins and Goodies in the Park" on Oct. 25 at Veterans Memorial Park, 115 Floyd Mayfield Drive, from noon to 3 p.m., with a costume contest at 1:30 p.m. He outlined age groups and prize amounts: gift cards of $75, $50 and $25 for first through third place. The department also listed upcoming advisory meetings in November.

Library: Library staff reported steady usage in September, with computer sessions of 1,553 and circulation of 3,284. Staff thanked volunteers who helped at community events, said library staff represented the branch at National Night Out, and previewed October programs including a teen escape room on Oct. 28 (ages 12'17) and a Great Pumpkin Party story time and trick-or-treating on Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. Staff noted a new weekly "Take It and Make It" craft offering.

Finance: A city finance representative, Danielle, presented month-end numbers as of Aug. 31. She said expenditures exceed revenues in the general fund by approximately $594,000. She reported local sales tax receipts were roughly $380,000 higher than the same time last year and property-tax collections were about $4,000 lower than last year at the same point. The water and sewer operating income figure was presented as $682,000 and net income as $1,200,000; Danielle reviewed cash balances on the packet pages. (The report gave specific fund balances; the board was not asked to take action during the report.)

Water treatment: Danny from the water treatment plant said the annual flushing program is about 57% complete and expected to finish by the end of the month. He also noted his utility participated in the fall festival and provided an operations contact number for residents who have water questions.

No board directives or votes resulted directly from the department reports; the items were presented for board information and community awareness. The vice mayor asked for no further action on these items and the meeting moved on to ordinance and resolution business.