Reinhardt leaves legacy

Jeff Reinhardt Jeff Reinhardt has been called the Agoura Hills City Council’s resident “techno geek,” but after eight years on the city council and six years as a planning commissioner, Reinhardt has left city hall with a legacy of thoughtful growth and a concern with public safety and quality of life issues.

Reinhardt was a member of the team who brought the library and civic center to completion.

Initially, Reinhardt entered civil service to help guide the city through its “adolescent years.” He now said the city is a “strapping young adult.”

Some of the successes Reinhardt can claim include the preservation of open space; upgrading the city’s appearance through carefully controlled and quality residential, commercial and retail development; and the removal of pole signs and billboards. He added the visual clutter was further reduced when the utilities were placed underground.

Although the Kanan interchange project has been a long time in the planning stages, Reinhardt is proud of how the council and city staff garnered federal fundingwhich saved considerable tax dollars. Construction on the interchange is expected to start at the beginning of the year. Quality of life issues, howeverare Reinhardt’s greatest accomplishments, including the expansion and upgrading of city parksHe said the attraction of quality jobs into the city makes it possible for people to both live and work locally.

“I place the highest value on the quality of life issues, such as ounewly-implemented housing assistance program for teachers and public safety employees,” he saidOther achievements undeReinhardt’s tenure include the opening of the library and civic center, ongoing beautification projects and “an extremely low crime rate.” Another high point, he saidwas the opening of the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center. He also worked tirelessly on the US 101 Visioning Study, a report on transportation. Louise Rishoff, staff directofor Fran Pavley, 41st Assembly District and former mayor oAgoura Hills, said, “Jeff almossingle-handedly put Agoura Hillon the map with his (US 101study.” Reinhardt regrets that he won’be able to continue his efforts toward regional traffic mitigation. “Transportation projects in particular move at a glacial rate,” Reinhardt said.

One moment that Reinhardt will remember fondly is when the old Denny’s pole sign came down on his first day as mayor.

“Nothing against Denny’s, but that sign was about as ugly as they get,” he said.

A career change spurreReinhardt to step down from thcity council. As the Las VirgeneMunicipal Water District customeservice and public affairs manageReinhardt said his job cut into thtime available for council duties“While city staff is excellent arunning the day-to-day operationof the city, I feel it’s necessary foa council member to devote 15 t20 hours a week to the wide arraof activities that make for an efective councilperson,” he said. Reinhardt said he’ll miss hwork with the city.

“There’s tremendous satisfaction in seeing a plan that benefits the community come to fruition,” he said. “I enjoy getting things done through people and engaging in creative problem solving. We’ve had some wonderful successes in our city during my time on the council and it took teamwork to achieve every one of them.”

Balancing the need for city revenues against the overall quality of the

community was the most challenging aspect of his job on the council.

“I think we’ve met that challenge well,” he said. “In spite of not having as many financial resources as some of our neighboring cities, we’ve improved our community a lot, kept it safe and maintained our semi-rural standards without having to resort to big box stores or car dealerships for revenues.”

Reinhardt said the city’s revenues were boosted through attracting several hotels and furniture retailers to the city. “Those are low-impact in terms of traffic generation but high revenue producers,” he said.

“When I first moved here, Agoura Hills was a bedroom community,” Reinhardt said. “We’re on the right track and it has taken time to achieve advances in the jobs (and) housing balance—but we’ve done it.” Leaving office and working for the city he loves will be difficult for Reinhardt.

“It’s been gratifying to see the quality of life in Agoura Hills expand and I believe that’s reflected in a number of ways,” Reinhardt said. “This is a great community for families. Low crime statistics and rising property values are a partial validation of our efforts.

“I’d like to think I brought an even-handed approach to government while representing a broad base of constituents,” he said.