Council OKs City Role in Government Group
The City Council unanimously authorized the city to join a proposed governmental agency that will be known as the Orange County Council of Governments.
The new organization would serve “as a forum for consideration, study and recommendation on areawide and regional problems,” according to its rules.
The Council of Governments would include representatives of member cities and of countywide organizations such as the Orange County Transportation Authority.
Cypress Community Development Director Chris Kelly said the organization would give a countywide voice to various levels of government. “There’s no voice that speaks for this county in this way,” she said.
Mayor Walter K. Bowman said the Council of Governments would serve as a funnel for some federal and state grants. “A lot of it has to do with funding studies,” Bowman said.
In a memo to the City Council, Kelly said the new council would bring “representatives together into a single, voluntary forum unlike any that exists in the state.”
She added that the new agency would have “representatives from the private sector and from universities as well as government entities.”
Councilman Tom Carroll said creation of the new organization involves no new fees. “It is not another burden on the taxpayer,” he said.
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