City of Lakewood

December 17, 2010
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

• City Hall Scheduling: There will be no council meetings the last two Mondays of December. Furthermore, City Hall will be closed on December 24th and 31st in recognition of the Christmas and New Years holidays.
• Public Works now posting on Twitter: Lakewood Police have been on Twitter for several months now and Public Works recently started to post (or "tweet") key information from the Lakewood Police Twitter page. Citizens can sign up at www.twitter.com and chose to follow "LakewoodPD" in order to get LPD updates and public works updates such as road closures, snow and ice removal, and other street maintenance information on a "real time" basis.
• Judge Heller sworn in at UP Muni-Court: On December 13th, Judge Ernest Heller was sworn in as the University Place Municipal Court Judge. University Place Municipal Court will begin operations on January 3, 2011 at Lakewood City Hall. Judge Heller received a warm reception from the UP City Council and staff, who expressed their thanks and appreciation for Judge Heller's appointment and the collaborative efforts from both cities.
• Flood Control Zone District: The legal department continues to represent the City in challenging the improper formation of the County's Flood Control Zone District. The City was joined by the cities of DuPont and University Place in this appeal. Gig Harbor, Milton, Edgewood, and Ruston have appealed in two additional actions.
• Public Works Food Drive for Tilllicum-Woodbrook: Each year the Public Works Department leads an effort to support Lakewood families in need during the Christmas season. In light of so many needs this year, the department worked with the Tillicum-Woodbrook Community Service Center (TWCSC) to help fill their food bank with hard-to-get protein staples - tuna and peanut butter. Between Thanksgiving and now, 669 jars of peanut butter and 1,587 cans of tuna were delivered to the community center in Tillicum. Other city departments and several Public Works vendors supported this effort by donating $1,150 in cash and hundreds of cans of food.
• LPD Teaches Rape Aggression Defense: LPD's Gail Conelly, Correne Buck and Lt. Steve Mauer will conduct a Rape Aggression Defense class starting Friday December 17th. This 12-hour class is taught over 4 evenings. The first class focuses on steps women should take to prevent an attack. The next two classes teach physical defense techniques and the last class is called dynamic simulation. In that class the women suit up with protective gear and then utilize the techniques learned against two heavily suited aggressor instructors. This class has 19 women enrolled. The next class will be held in February. There is no charge for the class.
• Employee Recognition Breakfast: The City's management team cooked breakfast for about 200 employees on Thursday, December 15th. Two employees epitomizing the guiding principle of "respect" were recognized in front of their peers: Accounting Tech Tammi Dove from the Finance Department and Police Sgt John Fraser. Councilmembers Thomas, Whalen, and Brandstetter joined staff during this year end celebration.
• Human Services Funding Plan Adopted: Lakewood City Council recently adopted recommendations from the Human Services Funding Advisory Board to fund 32 programs delivering social services to Lakewood citizens. The Human Services Coordinator provided training and technical assistance to each of the agencies in preparation for contracting with the City. Technical assistance included review of City contract and our outcome based performance requirements. The City is committed to ensure the highest level of accountability for the investment of City resources.