If you are curious about how Brea’s city governing works and have questions for the city manager and various department heads or elected officials, enroll in Engage Brea, Understanding Your City.
The 2023 eight-week session begins March 29. The weekly sessions will be on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. except for the May 16 City Council meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.
Engage Brea is offered at no cost to residents so they have the opportunity to gain more insight and understanding of how the city departments, City Council and city commissions and committees work together to make Brea run smoothly and be a better place to live and work.
The idea of Engage Brea came from Glenn Parker when he was on the City Council.
“For the past few years, I’ve believed that a better understanding of civics and local government would be beneficial to our constituents,” he said.
The real spark for the program came after Parker moderated a Cal State Fullerton Political Science Department town hall. Parker said he asked Dr. Scott Spitzer, associate professor of political science, if he’d be interested in working with Brea to develop a citizens’ workshop and he definitely agreed. The rest of the City Council was also in favor of it, and soon Engage Brea was born through a partnership of the city and CSUF.
CSUF’s involvement consists of the university’s endorsement of the program and Spitzer’s involvement.
“I am more or less a moderator,” said Spitzer. He explained that he curates the sessions and helps frame the issues historically and in terms of broader questions about local government, but the city leaders are the main focus of each session.
“The program is offered first and foremost by the city of Brea,” Spitzer said. “However our university is delighted to be partnering with our neighboring local government.”
Spitzer noted that in the future, they hope to offer a CSUF course for public administration students that would involve university instruction and student participation in Engage Brea. Sounds interesting.
During the weekly sessions, mainly held at the Brea Civic and Cultural Center, participants will learn how the city is organized and how things get done in Brea and they will meet various department managers and learn how their departments keep Brea running smoothly.
Even more important, participants will get questions answered and have other one-on-one conversations with the presenters from city staff, local elected officials and outside agencies that interact with Brea.
Participants will also have at least two offsite meetings. Those meetings may include the Police Department, Fire Department, the Public Works yard or the Community Services Department, for example.
One part of the program many past participants seemed to really enjoy was taking part in a mock Planning Commission meeting. Participant James Mc Daniel said that they learned a lot about what the commissioners do, especially when the participants were assigned to be on the pro or con side of a proposed development.
“It was a great program,” said Mc Daniel, “including our field trips outside the classroom and our interactive class participation.”
Brea Museum Curator Linda Shay was also a previous Engage Brea participant who said she highly recommends the program to everyone.
“The program was exceptionally well organized and introduced participants to numerous department heads,” Shay said.
If you are considering a run for City Council or want to serve on a city commission or committee, Engage Brea is a good place to start.
Engage Brea 2023 is limited to 30 Breans, age 16 and up. Go to cityofbrea.net/engagebrea for more information and an application.
Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at [email protected].