BILL NUMBER: ACR 165CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 153 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2010 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 3, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blakeslee (Coauthor: Senator Strickland) MAY 18, 2010 Relative to the Mayor Dick DeWees Memorial Highway. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 165, Blakeslee. Mayor Dick DeWees Memorial Highway. This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 246 in and east of the City of Lompoc as the Mayor Dick DeWees Memorial Highway. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs. WHEREAS, Dick DeWees was elected Mayor of the City of Lompoc on November 3, 1998, and served six consecutive terms until he passed away on July 30, 2009; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees was born in 1948 in Mount Clemens, Michigan; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees conducted his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Eastern Michigan University, majoring in dramatic arts; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees worked as an actor and director in over 60 plays and musicals, appeared on local television and radio programs, and was a voiceover artist in hundreds of commercials; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees served as master of ceremonies of, and performed with, the Lompoc Pops Orchestra for over a decade; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees served in a variety of positions in marketing, sales, and administration during 20 years in the broadcasting industry; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees started his own advertising consulting firm and received the Sam Walton Business Leader Award; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees taught public speaking at the Lompoc Valley Center of Allan Hancock College; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees served on a variety of boards and committees and represented the City of Lompoc on the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments and the Local Agency Formation Commission; and WHEREAS, Dick DeWees loved being Mayor of Lompoc, which he often said was the perfect job for him; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees led the City of Lompoc through many complex and significant achievements, including a settlement agreement with Cachuma contractors that brings more water releases to the Lompoc Valley, improving water and wastewater systems, stabilizing electric rates, extending the life of the city's landfill, increasing the police force, expanding parks, annexing the Wye area and entering into a cooperative agreement with Mission Hills to provide water and sewer services in the Wye area, building an award-winning aquatic center, opening a new community center, building a skateboard park, and successfully managing the potential computer risks referred to as Y2K; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees worked together with the Lompoc City Council to deal with illegal dumping, graffiti, congregate living, medicinal marijuana, truck parking, beach closures, fencing, budgets, labor contracts, reorganizations, low-income housing and housing in-lieu fees, development impact fees, utility rates, Community Development Block Grants, facilitating urban county status for Santa Barbara County, economic development, bus service, airport improvements, library funding, cable television franchises and public television, historic preservation, state and local ballot initiatives, WiFi, sidewalks, wineries, bikeways, energy conservation, water conservation, animal control, police dogs, and detox centers; and WHEREAS, Mayor DeWees is survived by his wife of over 30 years, Jane, his children, Nathan and Anna, their spouses, Javon and Jeremy, and two granddaughters, Emma and Madelyn, who were the light of his life; and WHEREAS, In recognition of Mayor DeWees' great contributions and service to the City of Lompoc, and its people whom he loved, it would be a fitting tribute to designate a portion of State Highway Route 246, in the City of Lompoc, as the Mayor Dick DeWees Memorial Highway; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of State Highway Route 246 from mile marker 9.56, the East Junction Route 01/246, in the City of Lompoc, to mile marker R13.65, La Purisima (Golf Course), east of the City of Lompoc as the Mayor Dick DeWees Memorial Highway; and be it further Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.