Should the water flow from the city?

Periodically, the issue of converting the independent Yorba Linda Water District into a city department is aired, but invariably the discussion dies without significant action.

Planning to raise the matter again is City Councilman Hank Wedaa, who last asked the council to consider the subject in 1996.

Then, Wedaa’s proposal for the City Attorney to “prepare a report describing the process and steps needed if the city was to initiate a consolidation procedure” lost on a 3-2 vote.

Now, Wedaa says he’ll introduce a similar motion in a couple of months; but he has no idea if he can muster another two votes for a study he says should outline the pros and cons of consolidation.

“We don’t need two sets of government in Yorba Linda,” Wedaa said. “Costs could be reduced…It’ll take years to get it done—that’s one reason I’ll be seeking another term.”

Wedaa ran for a water board director position in 2000, after his seventh council term ended, placing fourth out of five candidates for two seats.

Formed in 1909 as a mutual company serving mostly farmers, the water district became a public agency in 1959 with a five-member, voter-selected board of directors.

Complicating consolidation is the district’s service area—23,390 water accounts in Yorba Linda, as well as parts of Anaheim, Brea, Placentia and county territory. City sewer lines are split between the water district (westside) and the city (east of Village Center Drive.)

The district’s supporters maintain the area needs a separate district that stays out of local politics and uses revenue only for water-related activities, not to fund other services.

Four directors and General Manager Mike Payne supported Keri Wilson over Wedaa and Victoria Gulickson in the June special election for a vacant council seat. Directors often back council candidates, but Payne’s endorsement was his first in a local council race.

Presumably, some of the savings Wedaa cites as a reason for consolidation would come from the 2007-08 budget totals of $59,500 in salaries, $4,650 in mandatory benefits and $22,100 in supplemental benefits for the five directors.

Of course, an ideal solution would be for the city and water district to co-fund a truly independent study of the advantages and disadvantages of consolidation and finally put the matter to rest, but that might be asking too much of government bureaucracy.

A FINAL NOTE

The city’s longest-serving commissioner and a colleague likely will be replaced before their Planning Commission terms end Dec. 31. Three City Council members want Carl Boznanski, appointed in 1980, and Mike Haack, named in 2002, to resign.

John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa appear ready to interview applicants for the two seats even if Boznanski and Haack don’t quit voluntarily. The council majority’s aim is to get the pair off the commission before new Town Center plans are discussed.

Anderson has stated he seeks “new members more in touch with the nature and character of Yorba Linda and who will treat residents and council members with more respect.”

Terms of the other three commissioners—Ron DiLuigi, Dennis Equitz and Jim Pickel—expire Dec. 31, 2009.

Making every day count

Yorba Lindans who agree with the ordinance restricting City Council service to three four-year terms might be surprised to learn the term-limit clock hasn’t started ticking for eighth-term veteran Hank Wedaa—and won’t unless he’s elected to a full term next year.

The voter-approved ordinance says a person is “ineligible to hold office as a member of the City Council if that person has served in the office for three full terms,” but the limit only applies “to terms of office beginning after the effective date of the ordinance….”

And the ordinance’s effective date was Dec. 13, 1996, according to the Dec. 3, 1996, council meeting minutes and a note on the municipal code section of the city Web site.

Since Wedaa was installed for his seventh term on Dec. 3, 1996, his 28 years on the council from 1970-1994 and 1996-2000 don’t count for the three full term limitation.

The 18-month term for which Wedaa took the oath of office on June 19 also doesn’t count, since the ballot-designated “short term” isn’t a “full term” under the ordinance.

The law’s only exception—“a person appointed to a vacant office for an unexpired term of more than one-half the original term shall be deemed to have served a full term”—doesn’t affect Wedaa because he was elected, not appointed, to his shortened term.

Wedaa, who turned 83 on Feb. 15, already announced he intends to seek re-election next year, and if he’s successful, the 12-year limitation will begin with his ninth term in 2008.

Maybe Wedaa’s second return to the council will start a trend of past members seeking to reclaim their old seats; and if so, most are eligible for three full terms, while the others could serve two more terms, assuming they lived in Yorba Linda.

Besides Wedaa, 13 surviving council members elected prior to 1998 could serve 12 more years, including Mike Beverage, Rudy Castro, Dale Chaput, Rob Cromwell, Carolyn Ewing, Irwin Fried, Doug Groot, Barbara Kiley, Ron McRoberts, Todd Murphy, Bill Ross, Mark Schwing and Dan Welch.

Five-termer Gene Wisner could serve 12 more years because he resigned in 1999, before his last term was scheduled to end. Eligible for eight more years are Mike Duvall, who resigned before his second term ended, and John Gullixson, Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson, who were elected to only one full term after 1996.

Current council members Allen Castellano and Jim Winder are eligible for one more term, while John Anderson and Jan Horton can serve two more terms, assuming they remain in office for full terms.

A FINAL NOTE

Hank Wedaa is the only council member to return to office after two voluntary hiatuses, which lasted from 1994 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2007.

Other council members re-elected after a self-imposed layoff include Roland Bigonger (out of office 1972-1986), Whit Cromwell (1972-1974) and Gene Wisner (1992-1994).

What PACs have done locally

Leaders of this city’s most successful locally financed political action committee—Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation—plan to expand the organization’s areas of interest beyond downtown development plans and City Council election endorsements.

YLRRR board member Ed Rakochy said the grassroots group will be active in the several Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad issues affecting the community and the low-profile elections to fill director positions at the Yorba Linda Water District.

The not-so-surprising announcement came at a party celebrating Hank Wedaa’s special election victory for a vacant council seat hosted by Barry and Sharlene Dunn last month.

Many YLRRRers at the gathering were feeling festive about recent election and petition successes, including Wedaa’s win and last year’s John Anderson and Jan Horton council and Measure B land-use initiative victories.

In the past, two other local political action committees endorsed winners; but they were one-man-run enterprises largely financed by developers and others tied to the building industry, in contrast to YLRRR’s success with small donations and volunteer workers.

One committee is Past and Present Elected Officials Representing Yorba Linda, which, despite an all-inclusive name, is administered by former one-term council member and current fourth-term water board director Mike Beverage.

The PAC—still on the books with a $359 bank balance—raised several thousand dollars from developers and building-related businesses to help finance past council campaigns, including some won by Allen Castellano, John Gullixson and Gene Wisner.

Another local PAC was Safe Streets Are For Everyone, run by former Councilman John Gullixson to oppose 1998’s misguided Measure J initiative to halt an Imperial Highway improvement project, with developer cash assisting the pro-widening win.

A non-local PAC aiding ballot victories for Beverage, Castellano, Mike Duvall, Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson with one or more $1,000 contributions was Lyle Overby’s imaginably named but developer-funded Committee for Improved Public Policy.

Other non-local PACs helping to finance campaigns and oppose citizen initiatives recently include several run by the California Association of Realtors, the Building Industry Association and the National Association of Home Builders.

A FINAL NOTE

First to announce as a candidate in next year’s City Council contest is eighth-term Councilman Hank Wedaa—in a June 14 newspaper ad, during the June 19 council meeting and at his June 23 victory party.

Wedaa asked supporters to save the 500 street and yard signs he purchased for the June special election to fill an 18-month council term to use again in the November ’08 vote.

But maybe the “Had Enough?” slogan printed on each sign might not be the best word choice for a re-election race.

Time to put ethics down on paper

Since Yorba Linda is operating with a full City Council for the first time in seven months, the five members can now tackle a major issue facing the governing body: restoring public confidence in the council’s decision-making processes.

Council appears ready to revise an existing but long-forgotten ethics code from 1972 or consider an entirely new code, involving council members, appointed officials, such as the 20 city commissioners, and municipal employees.

The city needs a tough policy with teeth and enforcement powers, not a cosmetic code to provide cover for past business-as-usual practices or bullet points on re-election resumes.

Council can choose between a “rule-based” code, emphasizing what not to do, or a “value-based” policy, highlighting what individuals should strive to do; but a hybrid might be best, with some specific “don’ts” and a list of exemplary practices.

And, as part of a code or additional legislation, council needs to address two more key concerns: council members accepting election-year contributions from city contractors and conducting city business in closed-door committee meetings.

Taking campaign cash from individuals or businesses whose profits depend on council votes is unseemly and should be identified as injurious to the city’s health and welfare.
Maybe contract costs could be lower, if these donations were outlawed.

Also, council committee meetings should be open to the public—subject to limitations identified in the state’s Brown Act—as fetid fallout from secret Town Center Ad Hoc Committee meetings held in 2005 and 2006 clearly demonstrates.

The Yorba Linda Water District has five standing and two ad hoc committees, which meet at scheduled times, follow agendas, allow public participation and record minutes. There’s no reason the city can’t benefit from a similarly transparent policy.

Fortunately, state legislation outlaws especially egregious practices, but the Fair Political Practices Commission relies on self-reporting, and, in the last analysis, a local code needs an involved and diligent public to prove truly effective.

A FINAL NOTE

Also needing council attention is the sign ordinance, particularly relating to street-side political postings at election-time. Candidates and volunteers involved in last month’s special ballot e-mailed me two concerns about campaign signage.

One complaint was that a contender was advised by one management official to ignore a list of rules issued by another top-level administrator. Fairness dictates that city officials speak with one voice on such matters.

But a perennial grievance probably can’t be solved and will continue to plague future municipal elections. Representatives from each campaign claimed their roadway signs were vandalized or stolen, and they all blamed opponents for the misdeeds.