Yorba Linda least of bond's supporters

Yorba Lindans who supported the $200 million bond measure for infrastructure and technology needs at local schools should thank voters in neighboring cities for the 864-vote victory margin in a contest with no formal opposition.

Voters in Yorba Linda gave the bonds a 52.5 percent majority, 573 votes less than the 55 percent needed for passage, while the Country Club and Fairlynn county island residents voted “yes” with a 54.7 percent majority, three votes shy of the threshold.

By contrast, Placentia “yes” voters totaled 60.2 percent, Anaheim 64.2 percent, Brea 57 percent, Fullerton 66 percent and other unincorporated county territory 57.5 percent of ballots cast on the bond measure during the Feb. 5 Presidential primary.

While Yorba Linda and Placentia comprise most of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, voters from the small portions of Anaheim, Brea and Fullerton inside district boundaries were crucial to the slim win.

Yorba Linda’s 41,360 registered voters cast 22,699 bond ballots, 11,912 yes and 10,787 no, while Placentia’s 26,953 registered voters cast 13,705, 8,249 yes and 5,456 no.

The Country Club’s and Fairlynn’s 1,624 registered voters cast 917 bond votes, 502 yes and 415 no, and 612 registered voters in other county territory cast 372, 214 yes and 158 no.

Only 10,952 of Anaheim’s registered voters live in the district—about eight percent of the city’s total registered voters—and 4,728 of them cast 3,037 yes and 1,691 no votes.

Only 6,558 of Fullerton’s registered voters live in the district—about 10 per cent of the city’s total—and 2,493 of them cast 1,646 yes and 847 no votes.

And just 621 of Brea’s registered voters are district residents—some 2.6 percent of the city’s total—and 358 of them cast 204 yes and 154 no votes.

One reason for the large percentage of Yorba Linda “no” votes is the new high school is already funded from other sources, including bonds voted in 2002 and the settlement of a lawsuit against the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

The next concern of many residents is the attendance area for Yorba Linda High School, scheduled to open to 9th and 10th graders fall 2009.

Not all 3,878 Yorba Linda students now at three district high schools could attend YLHS. Esperanza has 2,498 from Yorba Linda, El Dorado 1,066 and Valencia 314, including 126 in the International Baccalaureate program.

A FINAL NOTE

The 75 per cent “no” vote on a small tax increase for landscaping and lighting on arterial streets is clear evidence voter distrust of city government hasn’t diminished since the past City Council attempted to railroad high-density Old Town redevelopment.

And despite the dismissal of 42-month City Manager Tammy Letourneau, voters are likely to continue a council housecleaning that began with the elections of John Anderson and Jan Horton in 2006 and Hank Wedaa in 2007.

If Allen Castellano and Jim Winder seek third terms, they’ll face uphill battles, even with a sizeable field of candidates splitting an expected large turnout of reform-minded voters.

Organization plays wide-ranging role

No doubt about it—the scramble for a majority of City Council seats is well underway, with the grassroots political action committee Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation taking an early lead in recruiting candidates and framing issues.

The opening date for signups to run for the positions now held by Allen Castellano, Hank Wedaa and Jim Winder is four months away and balloting eight months ahead, but already residents are expressing interest in the contest.

YLRRR, which cites a string of election and petition victories since 2005, contributed to the stinging defeat of the tax hike to maintain landscaping and lighting on arterial streets.

Property owners cast 8,333 no and just 2,810 yes votes during the six-week mail-in ballot period. Only Councilman John Anderson and a few speakers opposed the increase during the council’s public comment period.

But YLRRR bought a full-page ad in a recent Yorba Linda Star, noting the city’s $35 million reserve and that the tax would collect more than the landscape account deficit.

Promoting a “yes” vote were Wedaa, Winder and Jan Horton. The city issued a full-color, four-page mailer with a “Facing the Challenge…The cost to keep Yorba Linda looking its best” headline.

Another YLRRR ad in the Star offered help to potential candidates who “want to make a difference” on council or the Yorba Linda Water District board, saying, “Let’s take back Yorba Linda together.”

YLRRR also opposed a $21,864 raise granted City Manager Tammy Letourneau on a 3-2 council vote, which brought her salary and benefits to $301,000. Castellano, Horton and Winder voted yes, while Anderson and Wedaa voted no.

Winder often states Letourneau’s pay is based on the median of a 12-city survey, while others note some of the cities differ from Yorba Linda in size, population and length of service of the city manager.

So YLRRRers are helpfully proposing a long-term solution they say will “redefine the focus of city management and put an end to out-of-control local government salaries.”

Their idea, presented as a potential ordinance or ballot initiative, is to cap the city manager and assistant city manager pay packages at 2.3 times Yorba Linda’s median family income, which this year is $121,075.

Current policy calls for Assistant City Manager Dave Gruchow to be paid 17 percent less than Letourneau, but they could each earn $278,473 in salary and benefits under the plan.

A FINAL NOTE

One reason YLRRR has been successful with petitions and endorsements the past three years is the positive response to the group’s ads, which cost less than other methods of communication, important to an organization funded by local residents and businesses.

And a Star ad reaches active citizens, according to a developer-funded survey on Town Center issues, which found 80 per cent of “always” and “most-of- the time” voters read the Star, 79 per cent the Orange County Register and 34 percent the Los Angeles Times.

A look back would be good

Councilman John Anderson’s renewed call for an independent investigation into certain aspects of the recent failed Town Center redevelopment process should be supported by Yorba Lindans who value open government and treasure a low-density environment.

Anderson wants a third party to examine allegations that some of the city’s top officials worked hand-in-hand with developers to thwart a citizen-led, grassroots petition drive to overturn higher-density zoning ordinances approved for the Old Town area in late 2005.

The then-City Council rescinded the ordinances after low-density advocates gathered 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on two petitions in 21 days during the 2005-2006 Christmas and New Year’s holiday period.

Anderson also wants to determine if an extension of an exclusive negotiating agreement was tied to developers funding a signature suppression effort, for which they raised $115,000.

City Manager Tammy Letourneau has stated the city didn’t require the developers to fight the petitions, and “it was not ever a condition of any contract or extension.”

The inquiry also should look into possible open-meeting law violations involving a developer-funded letter mailed to residents and signed by four council members, Anderson noted.

Anderson said Greg Brown, a principal with Michael Dieden and Walter Marks in the now-defunct Old Town Yorba Linda Partners development team, has agreed to turn over pertinent documents to an independent investigator.

The documents include notes Brown took during the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee’s closed-door sessions attended by city staff, council members and developers as well as letters and e-mails among developers, consultants, lawyers and council members.

I first quoted from Brown’s 59 pages of documents in an Oct. 26, 2006, column. Anderson said at the March 4 council meeting that he’s proposing an investigation now because a one-year statute of limitations has expired and the city would no longer be liable in a civil lawsuit.

Anderson supports “moving on” when the council considers projects based on a report from the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee, but the veteran county prosecutor also champions accountability for past actions.

Whether or not Anderson’s council colleagues agree to an investigation, the matter certainly will be one of the contentious issues in this fall’s campaign for a majority of the seats on the five-member council.

A FINAL NOTE

I recently wrote that Councilwoman Jan Horton wisely returned a $1,250 campaign contribution she received from the union representing Orange County Fire Authority firefighters after she was named the city’s rep to the agency’s governing board.

But the union didn’t cash the refund check, so the money remains in Horton’s election account, despite two additional letters Horton says she sent the union.

“I am making one final attempt to return the money, and if that is unsuccessful, I will be donating the money to an organization [the union] suggests,” Horton wrote in an e-mail.

Residents are half-way there

With two ballots down and two to go, Yorba Linda voters are half-finished with a record four elections scheduled this year.

First was the Feb. 5 Presidential primary, including the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District’s $200 million bond. About half of 89,550 registered voters cast ballots for a final tally of 25,764 yes and 19,508 no, 864 votes more than the required 55 percent.

Ballots in the election to raise the annual tax in the city’s arterial lighting and landscaping zones from $47.29 to $91 were due Tuesday from property owners. The results might be available today or early next week, since City Hall is closed tomorrow.

The third ballot—the regular primary election on June 3—includes five races for state and county positions and Gary Miller’s GOP bid for a sixth two-year term in Congress.

Deadline for filing for these offices is tomorrow, although candidates with fund-raising committees already have registered their activities with California’s Secretary of State.

The two state Assembly members representing Yorba Linda—Mike Duvall in the west and central portions and Bob Huff on the eastern end—raised $841,657 in 2007 to seek seats for which they face no significant opposition in the primary and general elections.

Duvall, running for a second two-year Assembly term, raised $295,070 last year and had a balance of $54,823 in two campaign accounts at the start of this year.

Huff is leaving the Assembly after two terms to seek the state Senate seat occupied by Bob Margett, who is completing the second of the two four-year terms legally allowed. Huff raised $536,587 last year for the contest and began 2008 with $390,471.

The only credibly contested race is for the Republican nomination for the Assembly job to be vacated by Huff. The top contenders are Larry Dick, an elected county Municipal Water District director, and Curt Hagman, president of Pomona-based Apex Bail Bonds.

Dick raised $401,956 last year and began this year with $319,331, while Hagman took in $434,044 in 2007 and began 2008 with $342,011.

Two county incumbents who represent Yorba Linda might face opposition on the June ballot, depending on tomorrow’s final filings. Third District Supervisor Bill Campbell and county board of education member Ken Williams could face one or two opponents.

Also on the ballot are contests for the county central committee seats of several political parties. Currently, the only Yorba Linda resident on these bodies is former Councilman Mark Schwing, one of six Republican members from Huff’s Assembly district.

The fourth election will include council, school trustee and water board balloting Nov. 4.

A FINAL NOTE

Manny Ortega, a 23-year resident and former Placentia Police Chief, got a taste of local traffic enforcement on his way to a recent interview for a Traffic Commission position. Ortega told City Council members he was late due to a “deserved” citation he received.

In unanimous votes, the council selected Ortega and Diana Wu from a nine-candidate field to serve on the five-member advisory panel.