Tuesday's City Council meeting saw a 4-1 approval of a recommendation to direct staff to prepare to place a 2% utility tax on the ballot in April 1998.
The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce has chosen 4 special individuals to bestow their annual awards upon. They are: Joan Clive and Jesse Vanlandingham both tied for Community Volunteer of the Year; Mike Lamb, Business Person of the Year; and Chris Loomis, Chamber Service Award.
The city budget passed unanimously on Tuesday night and included the elimination of 9 full-time employee positions, an increase in paramedics fees and a one-year, 1 percent utility tax increase.
Joan Hallett, secretary to the City Librarian, died Tuesday at Huntington Memorial Hospital. She was struck by a car on Saturday and never regained consciousness. Joan had worked at the Arcadia Public Library nearly 40 years.
In an unusual move, the normally apolitical Arcadia PTA Council has endorsed Measure A on the April 14 ballot, pushing voter approval for a 2% utility tax increase.
Incumbents Sheng Chang and Barbara Kuhn failed in their bids for re-election to City Council as voters gave first-time candidate Gail Marshall, former Mayor Roger Chandler and council appointee Gary Kovacic the nod for the next four years. Gino Roncilli came in well ahead of former Mayor George Fasching for the two year seat. Voters also gave thumbs down to Measure A, a ballot initiative that would have added 2 percent to the current 5 percent utility tax for the next four years.
City Council voted to appoint a financial advisory committee to examine the city's financial policies and the size of its reserve fund, then report back to the Council by December.
In an attempt to produce permanent revenue enhancement, the City Council has agreed to go to ballot with a Fire Suppression District assessment which would ask property owners to tax themselves to achieve a balanced budget.
City Council has directed staff to Begin the process of placing a General Obligation Bond Issue on the Nov. 2, 1999 ballot. If approved, the bond issue will be used to partially fund construction of a new police station.
City Council voted Tuesday night to spend $804,380 in transportation funds to purchase land for a rail station on the northern edge of downtown Arcadia.
Ronald Konoske, 58, a resident of an unincorporated county area south of Arcadia, died Monday of cancer. Konoske was head of a campaign alleging that a San Dimas based water utility caused the cancer in him and others.
Arcadia City Council has approved funding for outdoor lights at Dana and First Avenue middle schools, but opposed lighting a soccer field at Foothills Middle School.
Clean of drugs for nearly 2 1/2 years, April Hubert will graduate from Arcadia High School. After a bout of drug use and behavior problems, she now looks to the future.
The new City Council has several options to try to fill the projected $2.2 million general fund budget gap. Options include dipping into city reserves, raising taxes and fees, salary cuts and layoffs.
Arcadia High School graduate Mike Taylor, along with 2 others, started Cronies, a Chatsworth based company that is making a big splash in the area of licensed apparel.
A scam that tricks pager user into calling a high-toll phone number in the Virgin Islands is blitzing numbers in the area, including several Arcadia Police Department officers.