The Arcadia City Council approved a 6% hike in building fees, such as building permits, conditional use permits, and request for modifications. The increase, set for November 17, will be used to offset the 6% salary hike that city employees received in the 1989-90 budget.
Roy Speirs and Steve Worsley are running as a team in the upcoming election. Their publicly stated purpose is to form a coalition with Haltom and Dring to bring about tax reforms. Their initial goal will be to further reduce the utility tax, eliminate the sewer tax, reduce the number of employees and control salaries.
A discussion of the proposed changes in high school graduation requirements. Proposed changes include an increase from 2 to 3 years of English and a minimum of 1 year of U.S. history rather than the 3 quarters now required.
Area librarians agree that recessionary periods create a greater demand for library services. It is ironic that this comes at a time when libraries are hurting from budget cuts. Arcadia and Monrovia have suffered most in this regard, cutting down on personnel and new book purchases and, in Arcadia's case, closing it's audio-visual department and reducing hours.
Plans to add a Nordstrom Department Store to Santa Anita Fashion Park received a set-back when the Arcadia Planning Commission voted down a request to reduce the required number of parking spaces at regional shopping centers.
Though Arcadia Unified School District has had to cut back on employees due to lack of money from the state, it will soon hire and elementary school counselor thanks to some imaginative use of state grant money.
Arcadia ranks at the top among US cities with the highest-paid employees, yet charges its residents less for municipal services and receives less aid than most California cities of similar size. No other US city outside California with a population between 10,000 and 50,000 pays its employees more; the average city employee earns $32,767 per year.
The City Council has extended the operating hours and reduced fares for Arcadia's Dial-A-Ride program. The service is available to anyone within city limits who needs a ride anywhere in town by calling 445-2211.
A public hearing is scheduled Monday night by the Arcadia Board of Education on the initial contract proposal by the district's classified employees. They are members of the California School Employees Association, Chapter 40, and are seeking a 10% salary increase.
Speed limits on 17 Arcadia streets will be going up by five miles per hour as a result of a recent study conducted by the police department and public works.
The Arcadia Board of Education ratified a new contract with the district's teachers by a 4-1 vote, but with some reservations about a binding arbitration provision (which would have district-teachers disputes resolved by a 3rd party). The contract includes a 10% salary increase for 1984/85 and an increase from a 177-day a year student school year to 180 days, along with lengthier instructional time per day.
Risto Milosevich, an Arcadia resident for many years, now living in El Toro, is due to receive the Medal of Honor. Milosevich and the other men in his platoon held off a force of German soldiers for 18 hours in December, 1944.
Council has postponed their decision on Best Disposal's request for an increase in the trash pick-up rate pending a study of increases in other cities by other companies. In October, Best asked for a 40% increase. They are now requesting an 80% increase.
More information on proposed budget cuts: 53 teachers will be cut rather than the 60 that had been publicized; the instrumental music program will remain intact; academic counseling will continue but personal counseling will be cut back.
Arcadia won approval last week of a dial-a-ride program with 50-cent fares from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission who agreed to let Arcadia use its Proposition A transit funds to subsidize the program's half-dollar fares until June.