Golden times for Westlake

Mark Rutherford Westlake Village Mayor Mark Rutherford’s State of the City address was nothing but good news for residents in the west Los Angeles County community. The annual speech was given at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza last week.

The 150 city and county officials who attended the luncheon sponsored by First California Bank included a number of former Westlake mayors, local school district heads and officials from Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department. Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) also was present.

“The state of the city is terrific,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford asked the question, “Have we as a city not only maintained, but also enhanced the overall quality of life for the community over the past year?

“The answer to this question will tell us whether we’re truly fostering the health, safety and welfare of the community,” Rutherford said.

The city remains in good financial health, with $7 million in reserve funds, the mayor said.

City reserves are sure to increase when the city begins collecting bed tax from the Four Season Hotel and the Resident Inn by Marriott, which are expected to be completed next year. Combined, the two hotels will account for more than 400 rooms and are expected to generate another $1 million a year in revenue for the city.

With the additional money, Rutherford said the city can continue to take on capital improvement projects, such as the citywide streetscape project. The mayor said the city has earmarked nearly $3.5 million to pay for new street signs, entry monuments, bus stops and other projects intended to beautify the community.

Other benefits of city’s deep pockets include the new Sunday hours at the library, the continued TGIF at the Civic Center Series of plays, concerts and movies, as well as the City Celebration event, now in its third year.

Rutherford said because the city council had set so many new goals the year before he took office last December, last year he has remained focused in fulfilling those goals.

A pet project for Rutherford continues to be turning the city’s long-awaited sports park into a reality. With a recent $1 million grant and the city’s approval earlier this year of the Triunfo YMCA sports complex on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, the proposed eight-acre sports park seems to be on the right track.

Rutherford touched briefly on the Lowe’s Development proposed to be built on 22 acres off Russell Ranch Road, noting there are two upcoming town hall meetings scheduled in early January to discuss the history of the project.

The address highlighted the work of the city’s disaster response team during the recent Topanga Fire.

“I can’t resist the opportunity to tout our disaster response team,” Rutherford said. “What a group of dedicated, talented and well-trained volunteers.”

The mayor said the city had been working on an emergency plan since January and continues o refine what steps the city will ake in the event of a disaster.

According to Rutherford, vio

ent crime is down from last year and a recent city survey shows residents are overwhelmingly sat

sfied with the direction of the city government.

Rutherford concluded by say

ng Westlake Village is still one of the premiere small communiies in America and the future remains bright for the city.