We are pleased to congratulate Cynthia Conners on her election to the position of Mayor Pro Tem, City of Laguna Woods. She is a busy associate attorney at our firm and brings over twenty-seven years of experience to her practice at Marshack Hays LLP. Her election as Mayor Pro Tem by her fellow Council Members after a relatively short time on the City Council is not surprising given her passion for public service and her commitment to community issues. “I enjoy my work as member of the City Council,” said Ms. Conners, “and we have an excellent City Manager and an excellent staff that allow us to focus primarily on policy and oversight.”
It is not surprising to the partners at the firm or to her co-workers that Ms. Conners maintains an active law practice while also serving her City. “If you look at her background,” offered Richard Marshack, “you’ll see that she has always had a public service component to go with her professional work. And her successful trial experience and professional background will certainly benefit the City of Laguna Woods just as they benefit our clients.”
Although Ms. Conners has lived in the City of Laguna Woods for only a few years, she jumped immediately into local governance issues. Within a year of moving to Laguna Woods, she was elected president of a 9,000-member homeowners’ association in the City. According to Ms. Conners, that position was a high profile job with some contentious issues that drew media attention and presented governance challenges regularly.
And after responding successfully to those challenges, her work on the City Council presents her with a different level of public policy issues and challenges. “Now I have to examine issues such as the state budget crisis,” added Ms. Conners, “the source cost of our water in the Sacramento delta, the quality of our waste-water runoff into the Pacific and even our use of energy from the nuclear power station at San Onofre.”
As part of her duties, she has testified at a regional meeting in favor of the seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach and has spoken to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about safety at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Those talks included a discussion of evacuation plans for south Orange County in the event of an incident at the plant. “I also have a special interest in conservation and recycling,” said Ms. Conners, “and I am pleased that the City is expanding recycling opportunities for residents in multi-unit buildings. We will also be focusing on commercial and restaurant recycling over the next few years as well as working to integrate our parkland into the Coastal Greenbelt, administered by Orange County Parks and Recreation.”
Ms. Conners continues to represent Marshack Hays clients in business and bankruptcy litigation matters. We are proud of her work for the City of Laguna Woods and wish her good fortune in her newest duties as their Mayor Pro Tem.
