City manager’s report shows La Cañada City Hall activities by the numbers
La Cañada City Manager Mark Alexander provided a retrospective snapshot of the city’s inner workings in 2017, releasing his annual report of city activities to the City Council in a meeting Tuesday.
The 36-page report compiles activities in the city’s four main departments — Administration, Finance, Community Development and Public Works — showing the calendar year at a glance and comparing some key data points from year to year.
For example, city staff issued a total of 55 film permits (the same number as 2016) but was able to generate $6,000 more in revenue than the $22,475 brought in the year before.
A total of 496 public records requests were processed in 2017, compared to 429 in the previous reporting year. An uptick in the number of locals taking advantage of the city’s Summer Beach Bus to Santa Monica Bay, from 596 in 2016 to 624 last year, was also recorded.
Lanterman Auditorium, operated through a joint-use agreement between the city and La Cañada Unified School District, was booked for a total of 1,006 hours in 2017 and generated $172,404 in gross revenue for Fiscal Year 2016-17. Despite the income, however, the city reported spending $174,605 on the 1961 facility during the same reporting period.
The Finance Department reported its staff issued 1,715 business licenses, including 344 for new businesses, earning $214,179 in revenue. It also issued a total of 2,256 contractor decals — a new requirement instituted in 2016 to ensure construction vehicles parked on city’s streets belong to contractors permitted to do work in La Cañada — amounting to an additional $18,955 in revenue.
Councilman Jon Curtis said the report is a good summary of the many projects and programs in which city officials and staff engaged throughout the year.
“I would actually encourage everybody … to take a close look at it,” Curtis said Tuesday. “You’ll see the amount of work that is accomplished within this city.”
Mayor Mike Davitt will share highlights from Alexander’s report before members of the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada in an annual State of the City address scheduled for noon on Wednesday, March 28, in Van de Kamp Hall at Descanso Gardens.
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