TUESDAY, APRIL 5: Damien Storms City Hall; Water Fines and Restrictions Ended

April 5, 2011

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New Councilman Charles Rosales and his counterpart David Perez.

It was a Damien-dominated city council meeting on Monday night at City Hall.

Students from the private Catholic school in La Verne job-shared with city council members and department heads and voted along with their counterparts to suspend California drought surcharges and water use restrictions in the city and to approve acceptance of a South Coast Air Quality Management District grant of $120,203 toward rebuilding and equipping the La Verne Fire Department’s 1994 fire engine.

The newly minted politicians also wisely decided to honor members of Damien’s 2010-2011 basketball team coached by Matt Dunn. Finishing the season 26-4, a school record, the team won the Sierra League and advanced to the CIF semifinals for the third consecutive owners.

Comprising the team were Gian Demano, Jared Dizon, Chris Reyes, Kevin Alfaro, Andres Jimenez, Clayton White, JP Chakbazof, JJ Pavia, Kevin Mansour, Tyler Banks, Jonathan Prater, Jared Odom, Tim Younger, Ryan Tatera, CJ Hyland, Jeremy Serafin and Michael Bartelt.

Damien students who served on the City Council on Monday were: Mayor Michael Bartelt, Mayor Pr Tem Tyler Busque, and Councilmen Gian Demano, John Garcia, and David Perez.

Mayor Pro Tem Robin Carder and her counterpart Tyler Busque.

Filling the shoes of La Verne department heads included: City Managers Ben Lopez and Alex Shropshire, City Attorney Nolan Leggio, City Clerk Jose Pavia, City Treasurer, Johnny Beal, Public Works Director Ian Nally, Community Development Director Colin Bloom, Finance Officer Geoff Kim, Community Services Director Danny Bolinger, Police Chiefs Joseph Wend and Ryan Safer, Fire Chief Anthony Rosati, City Engineer Colin Dorner, Information Systems Manager Scott Usatorres and Alternate Danny Martinez.

Mayor Don Kendrick and his counterpart Michael Bartelt.

The students, however, put the city on the notice that their time of service would be short. Many announced they had been accepted to many elite national universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Brown, West Point, the Naval Academy, Columbia, Berkeley, Arizona State and USC where they plan to major in everything from Communications to Bio-Engineering.

Despite losing the students before they barely had a chance to warm their political seats, the real Mayor Don Kendrick declared, “Our future is in good hands.”

When Coach Dunn was asked to say a few words about his basketball team, he said, “This is a group I’m very proud to call my own. They will represent us well as they go forward in their careers, and I feel very strongly about that.”

The Council also approved the City’s ongoing participation in the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force Joint Powers Agreement (LA IMPACT JPA). La Verne Police Chief Scott Pickwith, who has served as the chief of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association, announced that LA IMPACT had recently intercepted 550 kilos of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $40 million.

The next City Council will take place April 18.