Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 16, 2016

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 16, 2016 

AMUNDSON, VERLATO WIN; TAX REPEAL LOSES

by Scott Hettrick, Arcadia’s Best

 Apparently Arcadia residents want change 
in representation on the City Council, fewer 
big mansions, and to continue paying for the 
same level of great community services.

 In a hotly-contested battle, first-time 
candidate April Verlato and former Mayor 
Peter Amundson narrowly defeated former 
Mayor Bob Harbicht in today’s election 
(April 12, 2016) to fill two vacant seats on 
the Arcadia City Council.

 And voters soundly defeated a very 
contentious ballot initiative — Measure 
A — that would have repealed the current 
Utility Users Tax and forced the City to cut 
$7 million in spending, or 12.5% of the city’s 
budget.

 Also, Gene Glasco was re-elected to 
another term as City Clerk with more 
votes than any Council candidate — he ran 
unopposed.

 The winners will be official Thursday, April 
21, after all the remaining mailed ballots 
postmarked today, April 12, are received 
by April 15; and all the provisional votes 
are verified and counted. The additional 
delay is mostly due to 37 voters who did not 
sign their ballot envelopes — the law now 
requires the City to take eight days after 
the election to make every effort attempt to 
get those signed and returned. City officials 
said Wednesday that about 300 ballots came 
in to City Hall in the final hours Tuesday 
evening that have yet to be processed, and 
another 999 ballots were received in the mail 
on Wednesday, with even more expected by 
Friday. With only 438 votes separating the 
top three candidates (Harbicht won three 
of the seven precincts over Amundson and 
Verlato and only lost a fourth precinct 
by a few dozen votes), and only 23 votes 
separating the top two winners, it’s possible, 
though still unlikely, that the final tally 
could raise Harbicht over either of the two 
tentative winners.

 The ceremonial swearing-in ceremony will 
take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 26. 

 Amundson, who was not subjected to any 
attacks on his positions or his character, 
had the most votes — 3,634, but that was 
only 25 more than Verlato. Verlato, who 
has been a lightning rod of controversy over 
her strong stance and efforts to instigate 
and support lawsuits against the City and a 
ballot initiative to create restrictions on the 
building of mansions, came in a very close 
second with 3609 votes.

 It’s unclear, after the Council’s 3-2 vote last 
week to approve a new and more restrictive 
residential zoning code to reduce the allowable 
size of newly-built homes, whether Verlato will 
continue her support of a far more restrictive 
pending ballot measure regarding the size of 
new homes. Two of the three votes in favor of 
the new code approved last week — Mayor Gary 
Kovacic and Council Member Mickey Segal 
— are leaving the Council later this month, 
although Amundson is known to be supportive 
of more controls on house sizes as well.

 Former Mayors Bob Harbicht and Dr. 
Sheng Chang were defeated, with Harbicht a 
much bigger surprise. He was considered the 
strongest candidate early in the campaign 
season since he often got the most votes in 
previous elections. But he was hit late in the 
campaign by a story and subsequent attacks 
from competitors that he accepted a very 
large donation from a developer. Harbicht 
lost by only 413 votes with a total of 3,196 
votes Tuesday. Chang had a somewhat 
surprising strong showing with 2,260 votes.

 The two biggest losers tonight were two 
candidates who ran and lost in the last 
election of 2014: Burton Brink, who came in 
a distant fifth with 1,049 votes, and Paul Van 
Fleet, who spent almost no money and was 
barely seen in the community. He garnered 
only 82 votes. Brink lost the support of the 
police and fire departments early in the 
campaign when he signed the petition to 
get Measure A on the ballot. Although he 
quickly said that was a mistake, he never 
recovered.

 Measure A was defeated 4,910 to 2,735.


Bob Harbicht

Peter Amundson

April Verlato 


Courtesy City of Arcadia web site April 12, not counting at least 1,300 more ballots 
received since this tally, and at least a couple hundred more expected to be received and 
verified before the April 21 final count


MONROVIA, CALIF. NATIVE 
SERVING ABOARD NUCLEAR-
POWERED SUBMARINE 


LA COUNTY CONSIDERING TWO TAX MEASURES IN NOVEMBER 
2016 (TRANSPORTATION SALES TAX AND PARK TAX), AND 
ANOTHER TAX MEASURE IN 2017 (STORM WATER / DROUGHT TAX)


By Oliver Chi, Monrovia City Manager

Based on recent discussions with representatives of Los 
Angeles County, it appears that there will be two tax 
measures on the ballot for voter consideration at the 
November 2016 election. Those measures include the 
following:

LA County Metro Transportation Sales Tax Measure 

First, as was reported a few weeks ago, Los Angeles 
County Metro is considering the implementation of a 
new countywide . cent sales tax increase that would 
last for 40 years, while also extending the current 
Measure R tax measure for an additional 18 years. 
These tax measures, which would extend until 2057, are being pursued to fund Metro’s 
Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), which outlines a number of proposed 
transportation and highway projects throughout Los Angeles County. In total, the 
LRTP includes $120 billion of identified transit and highway projects. 

 Based on discussions with representatives from LA County, internal polling data that 
has been compiled indicates that the proposed sales tax measures currently have the 
support of around 70% of the voters. 

In order for the sales tax measure to be implemented, two-thirds (2/3) of voters would 
have to approve of the initiative.

LA County Park Tax Measure 

In addition to the Transportation Sales Tax measure, the City was contacted by 
representatives from the Los Angeles County Regional Park & Open Space District this 
past week regarding a proposed tax initiative to support the LA County park system. As 
you may be aware, in 1992, LA County voters approved Proposition A, which generated 
an estimated $54 million / year for park, open space, and beach related projects. In 1996, 
a second smaller park bond measure (also known as Proposition A) was subsequently 
approved. 

The initial Proposition A measure that was passed in 1992 ultimately expired in June 
2015. As you may recall, LA County placed before the voters in November 2014 a 
measure known as Proposition P. That particular measure, which failed to receive the 
requisite 66% voter approval needed for implementation (the measure received 62% 
support, falling short by around 4%), sought to continue the funding generated by 
Proposition A. 

 Since Proposition P failed, LA County has been engaged in a countywide park needs 
assessment process, which included several meetings that were held in Monrovia during 
the past few months. 

To help facilitate the placement of a new tax measure before the voters for consideration 
in November 2016, a firm known as Cerrell has been hired by LA County to conduct 
outreach. Based on discussions that staff has had with representatives from other 
communities, LA County representatives claim that internal polling shows that nearly 
70% of voters support the proposed tax measure. Cerrell will be visiting with Monrovia 
in two weeks. 

 The proposed tax measure will likely be either a flat fee for every parcel in LA County 
(likely $25 / parcel / year), or a fee on each square foot of building on a parcel (likely $0.03 
/ square foot / year). 

 The overview flyer included below highlights how LA County anticipates the 
funding being spent should the tax measure be approved, which indicates that 55% of 
the funding will be available for cities and communities. However, based on feedback 
that has been received by staff to this point in time, it appears that the proposed tax 
measure will not include a substantial guarantee of local return of the funds to every 
incorporated jurisdiction in LA County. This is a particular point of contention, as the 
funding not allocated directly on an annual basis to cities equates to less local control of 
how the monies are spent. Given that roughly 90% of the area within LA County falls 
within incorporated cities, it is important that should a tax measure of this magnitude be 
approved, a portion of the funding needs to be guaranteed to return to each incorporated 
municipality. Otherwise, LA County controls who gets the funding, and experience has 
shown that the cities in the San Gabriel Valley region are often times left out of process. 

 Staff will continue monitoring this issue and we will be certain to provide ongoing 
updates regarding the proposed LA County park tax as it progresses forward.

By Oliver Chi, Monrovia City Manager

Based on recent discussions with representatives of Los Angeles County, 
it appears that there will be two tax measures on the ballot for voter 
consideration at the November 2016 election. Those measures include the 
following:

LA County Metro Transportation Sales Tax Measure 

First, as was reported a few weeks ago, Los Angeles County Metro is 
considering the implementation of a new countywide . cent sales tax 
increase that would last for 40 years, while also extending the current 
Measure R tax measure for an additional 18 years. These tax measures, 
which would extend until 2057, are being pursued to fund Metro’s Long 
Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), which outlines a number of proposed 
transportation and highway projects throughout Los Angeles County. In 
total, the LRTP includes $120 billion of identified transit and highway 
projects. 

 Based on discussions with representatives from LA County, internal 
polling data that has been compiled indicates that the proposed sales tax 
measures currently have the support of around 70% of the voters. 

In order for the sales tax measure to be implemented, two-thirds (2/3) of 
voters would have to approve of the initiative.

LA County Park Tax Measure 

In addition to the Transportation Sales Tax measure, the City was 
contacted by representatives from the Los Angeles County Regional Park 
& Open Space District this past week regarding a proposed tax initiative 
to support the LA County park system. As you may be aware, in 1992, LA 
County voters approved Proposition A, which generated an estimated $54 
million / year for park, open space, and beach related projects. In 1996, 
a second smaller park bond measure (also known as Proposition A) was 
subsequently approved. 

The initial Proposition A measure that was passed in 1992 ultimately 
expired in June 2015. As you may recall, LA County placed before the voters 
in November 2014 a measure known as Proposition P. That particular 
measure, which failed to receive the requisite 66% voter approval needed 
for implementation (the measure received 62% support, falling short by 
around 4%), sought to continue the funding generated by Proposition A. 

 Since Proposition P failed, LA County has been engaged in a countywide 
park needs assessment process, which included several meetings that were 
held in Monrovia during the past few months. 

To help facilitate the placement of a new tax measure before the voters for 
consideration in November 2016, a firm known as Cerrell has been hired 
by LA County to conduct outreach. Based on discussions that staff has had 
with representatives from other communities, LA County representatives 
claim that internal polling shows that nearly 70% of voters support the 
proposed tax measure. Cerrell will be visiting with Monrovia in two weeks. 

 The proposed tax measure will likely be either a flat fee for every parcel 
in LA County (likely $25 / parcel / year), or a fee on each square foot of 
building on a parcel (likely $0.03 / square foot / year). 

 The overview flyer included below highlights how LA County anticipates 
the funding being spent should the tax measure be approved, which 
indicates that 55% of the funding will be available for cities and communities. 
However, based on feedback that has been received by staff to this point in 
time, it appears that the proposed tax measure will not include a substantial 
guarantee of local return of the funds to every incorporated jurisdiction 
in LA County. This is a particular point of contention, as the funding not 
allocated directly on an annual basis to cities equates to less local control of 
how the monies are spent. Given that roughly 90% of the area within LA 
County falls within incorporated cities, it is important that should a tax 
measure of this magnitude be approved, a portion of the funding needs to 
be guaranteed to return to each incorporated municipality. Otherwise, LA 
County controls who gets the funding, and experience has shown that the 
cities in the San Gabriel Valley region are often times left out of process. 

 Staff will continue monitoring this issue and we will be certain to 
provide ongoing updates regarding the proposed LA County park tax as it 
progresses forward.

MONROVIA POLICE BLOTTER

Following are the weekend’s highlighted issues and events. To see a complete 
listing of crimes reported, go to the City of Monrovia website and click on the 
crime mapping link.

Warrants / Weapon Offenses / Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – 

Suspects Arrested April 7 at 2:40 p.m., an officer stopped a vehicle for a traffic 
violation in the 1600 block of S. Myrtle. The officer discovered there was 
an outstanding warrant for the registered owner of the vehicle, who was in 
the passenger seat. The registered owner was also

found to have drug paraphernalia in his possession. A search of the vehicle 
revealed a loaded shotgun in the driver’s area and two firearm replicas. Additional 
drugs were also found in the vehicle. Both subjects were arrested 
without incident.

Vehicle Burglary

April 8 at 12:59 p.m., a vehicle burglary was reported in the 1200 block of 
N. Canyon. The victim parked her vehicle next to the ranger station. The 
victim returned from a hike and found her rear window shattered and her 
purse missing. The victim’s credit cards were used immediately at three local 
businesses. The investigation is continuing.

Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – Suspect Arrested

April 8 at 3:08 p.m., officers responded to the 300 block of S. Myrtle regarding 
a suspicious male, adult subject loitering in the children’s section in the 
library. The librarian pointed out the subject, who was now outside. As the 
officers exited the library, three young girls, ages 13, 12, and 11 years old, 
approached the officers and told them the same subject had been inside the 
girl’s bathroom minutes before. The girls reported that they walked into the 
bathroom, saw the subject standing inside and immediately left. They said 
the subject followed them outside and then walked away.

 April 8 at 4:50 p.m., officers responded to the 100 block of E. Lime 
regarding a male adult who entered a business and asked to use the 
women’s bathroom. An officer saw the subject walking away from 
the business and recognized him as the same subject from the library 
incident. The officer approached the subject and saw him toss 
a methamphetamine pipe into the fountain at the park. He was arrested 
for possession of drug paraphernalia and taken into custody.
and released