For the past several months I have been listening to voters tell me they want reform. They want a city government that is open, transparent, and accountable. They want a city government that protects them, makes their neighborhoods safer, and reduces, not creates, barriers to owning and operating a business.

I believe that the City Attorney must aggressively develop and

enforce long-term solutions to the problems which disrupt the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

I am particularly concerned about litigation brought against the City of Los Angeles that could critically impact Long Beach. This litigation raises the argument that local government officials have allowed the homeless population to balloon by not treating the problem as a full-blown crisis.

The lawsuit also accuses LA City and County of negligence and waste of public funds and resources. Because some business owners have been impacted by a proliferation of sidewalk encampments, business owners allege this is a taking of private property for public use without just compensation.

As City Attorney, I will establish:

A Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court Task Force to train and implement Governor Newsom’s new plan to get people in crisis off the streets and into housing, treatment, and care. The Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court will provide Long Beach an effective tool to deal with homelessness in a compassionate but firm manner. Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court is a new framework to get people with mental health and substance use disorders the support and care they need.

CARE Court includes account- ability for everyone – on the individual and on local governments – with court orders for services. CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness and often also sub- stance use challenges with a court-ordered Care Plan for up to 24 months. Each plan is managed by a care team in the community and can include clinically prescribed, individualized interventions with several supportive services, medication, and a housing plan. The client-centered approach also includes a public defender and sup- porter to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team.

Neighborhood Law Corps Pilot Project that utilizes an attorney (and law student) in each Council District to improve neighborhoods block by block by tackling serious problems affecting the quality of life in Long Beach. NLC will work closely with the City Prosecutor, City Manager and City Council to focus on how to improve code enforcement and deal with substandard housing, public nuisance and blight, vacant buildings, illegal dumping, tire dumping, conditional use permit and zoning violations, dangerous buildings, and weed abatement.

Together, we can bring the reform so much needed in Long Beach. You can read more about my priorities at www.schipske4LB. com or www.gogerrie.com . Please contact me at gerrie@schipske4LB. com with your questions.

As the news media announces yet another major loss in court by the City Attorney, voters are asking why isn’t something being done to prevent these losses from happening?

The Office of City Attorney must proactively assess and advise the City on potential risks and to provide training on how to avoid such risks.

The City currently utilizes what is termed: “Traditional Risk Management” that typically only occurs after an incident has already happened and is done to prevent that situation from happening again. This is a very limited and costly approach.

As City Attorney, I will establish a Task Force on Potential Risk Events and Situations utilizing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) which looks to the future and at- tempts to determine potential events and situations that could or are likely to occur. Every effort needs to be made to prevent claims against the City, not just pay them. ERM is a best practice for government, although not currently required for local governments.

I especially believe that the City Attorney needs to create a “Legal Exposure Reduction Committee” that will establish an annual City- wide and departmental legal exposure reduction goal; create proactive City Attorney procedures to advise departments on various methods to reduce legal costs; create procedures to discuss areas of potential exposure; develop and implement specific strategies calculated to prevent future claims and lawsuits; provide updated training on new changes in laws and policies for each appropriate department to implement; assess the efficacy of corrective action plans; review management training and implementation of City policies; review lessons learned; discuss areas of potential exposure; and report annually on their progress and efforts.

We need to put in place a requirement before the settlement of amounts over $100,000 that the named department will provide a Corrective Action Plan (or CAP) that specifies how the finding(s) or non-compliance issue(s) will be corrected. The CAP must detail policies and/or procedures put into place to ensure the findings have been permanently resolved. More specifically, a corrective action plan explains what the program is now doing differently to ensure the finding(s) do not occur again. The CAP is confidential. The Summary Corrective Action Plan (SCAP) mirrors the Corrective Action Plan but removes all confidential information and is intended as a public document that will be posted on the City Council agenda. We also need transparency in the City budget regarding the amount and frequency of claims and settlements paid out by the City. Taxpayers deserve to know the details.

Together, we can bring the reform so much needed in Long Beach. You can read more about my priorities at www.schipske4LB. com or www.gogerrie.com. Please contact me at gerrie@schipske4LB.com with your questions.

Why are many voters fed up with how things are done, or not done, down at City Hall? Why are they convinced that Long Beach politics aren’t broken, but fixed?

It is because they do not feel that they have any impact on the decisions made by elected officials. They feel that one thing that does have an influence is money. They know that special interests and people who can afford lobbyists still carry the major influence.

Unfortunately, the influence of campaign money was made even worse when the City Attorney al- lowed the City Council to remove the ban on using officeholder ac- counts for political campaigns.

Let me explain. Until 2017, Long Beach elected officials were prohibited from raising or spending political campaign money more than one year before the election. This is because the voters passed the Long Beach Campaign Finance Reform Act (LBCFRA) in 1994 to curb the influence of money on city elections.

Voters believed that elected officials spent too much time on political fundraising and not enough time focusing on their jobs. So, voters restricted political funding to only the year before an election. They also placed limits on contributions. Officeholder accounts could only be used for expenses related to their office – not political campaigns.

In 2017, with the advice of the Office of City Attorney, the Mayor and Council were able to go around the restriction of raising political money more than one year before an election by eliminating the ban on raising money for officeholder accounts that can now be used for political campaigns. Confusing? That’s what they counted on.

Now, our elected officials can raise money for their officeholder accounts any time before an election and use that money for political campaigns. This means they can tap special interests for contributions for the four years they are in office.

We need to restore the public trust in local government. That is why I will use the full force of the Office of City Attorney to establish the strongest

“Anti-Corruption” effort to root out unethical or illegal conduct by City elected officials, employees, and those who contract with the City.

I will provide rigorous training for all city employees and elected officials on avoiding personal financial gain or other perks as a result of public service; governmental transparency; and fair processes.

I will encourage an ordinance that prohibits Council members from participating in decisions on contracts if they have received campaign contributions of more than $100 from the companies and employee unions seeking or having contracts and to post such conflicts on agendized matters.

Finally, I will provide a legal opinion that allowing the use of officeholder accounts for political campaigns over a four-year term of office, violates the City Charter “Long Beach Campaign Finance Reform Act” which limits political fundraising to one year before an election.

We can bring the reform so much needed in Long Beach. You can read more about my priorities at www.schipske4LB.com or www. gogerrie.com. Please contact me at gerrie@schipske4LB.com with your questions.