City Council Awards Proclamation to Resurrected Pageant

The resurrected Miss Fountain Valley Scholarship Pageant is a little more than two weeks away, and on Tuesday evening the Fountain Valley City Council showed its appreciation for the event by awarding a proclamation to the scholarship program.

Mayor John Collins presented the proclamation to the pageant’s executive director, Keeli Scott Lisack, and her committee, which has been working diligently for the past year after the pageant was postponed in February 2010 and 2011 under another director due to a lack of contestants. The annual pageant began in 1964 but was discontinued in 1991.

“I’m glad to see it back,” said Collins, during the presentation by the City Council. “I think it’s important for the community.”

The Miss Fountain Valley Scholarship Pageant will be held Saturday, March 10, 6 p.m., at the Saigon Performing Arts Center. There will be 12 girls, ages 17-24, who either live, work or go to school in Fountain Valley, competing for $15,000 in scholarships.

Lisack, who was Miss Fountain Valley 1997, said that resurrecting the pageant has been a dream of hers for many years.

“My parents were both really involved in the city, so I have that heritage,” said Lisack, whose father was five-time mayor George Scott. “We moved here in 1963 when I was five years old. I went to Fountain Valley elementary schools and graduated from Fountain Valley High School. The last time we had a pageant, I was the director. It is a very historic event.”

Lisack said the pageant is tied to the Miss America organization so the young ladies will be presenting their talent in a swim suit competition, evening gown competition, an on-stage question and the interview. There will be seven judges from the community and the Miss America organization, while the Masters of Ceremonies will be Carrie Prejean, who won Miss California 2009 and was runner-up to Miss America 2010.

Lisack, who is president of Lisack, Inc. and an investor in Endless Food & Fun in Huntington Beach, credits Councilman Larry Crandall for helping to raise funding, along with platinum sponsor Hyundai and gold sponsors Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Orange Coast Memorial, Fountain Valley Body Works and the Saigon Performing Arts Center.

“It’s not just finding the girls but finding the funding and all the pieces of the puzzle that go along with it. It’s a lot of work,” Lisack said.  The city really needs it and everybody in the community is rallying around it. It’s going to be an exciting event.”

In other council news:

Two weeks after voting to terminate its membership in the Association of California Cities—Orange County, the council voted 4-1 to continue its membership in the League of California Cities. Only Crandall voted against it. Both organizations basically offered the same types of services, except that the ACC-OC focuses on good policy issues that affect some 36 cities in Orange County while the LCC focuses on political issues that affect some 456 cities in California.

The City Council approved a contract amendment with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPers) to establish different levels of benefits. Newly-hired sworn fire department employees now will receive 2 percent at 50 formula while the removal of the cost sharing provision for 3 percent at 50 formula will apply to current fire employees. The change is expected to save the City of Fountain Valley between 1.7 percent and 3.3 percent of payroll.