Hits and misses for Yorba Linda 2009

Here’s my annual review of Yorba Linda’s civic scene for the past year:

Best City Council contribution: Mark Schwing’s experience and leadership kept well-intentioned proposals from saddling residents with unnecessary regulations and costs.

Best city event: The well-attended May 3 dedication of the citizen-funded Veterans Memorial, culminating countless hours of labor by a committed army of volunteers.

Most missed city event: October Fiesta Days Parade (second cancellation since 1968).

Most historic city event: Opening Yorba Linda High School, a short 98 years after the city’s first elementary school, to 943 9th and 10th graders, including 894 Yorba Lindans.

Most controversial school board votes: Nearly all trustee votes are 5-0, but two votes for Yorba Linda High’s attendance borders were 3-2, first favoring one option, then another.

Most welcome return: Former director and longtime resident Steve Rudometkin is back running city parks, replacing retiree Sue Leto, for 30 hours weekly and $13,500 monthly.

Most startling transformation: Mike Duvall, the once-gregarious two-year Chamber of Commerce president, six-year City Councilman and three-year state Assemblyman, has been uncharacteristically silent since his legendary story-telling led to political disgrace.

Best City Council decision: Sending the strongest signal possible that blocking access to the city’s trail system will result in legal action, when needed to protect this key resource.

Another good City Council decision: Giving Traffic Commissioners a formal role in advising Planning Commissioners on traffic issues associated with large city projects.

Worst City Council decision: Allowing general fund revenues to subsidize the eastside’s sewers, while westsiders pay full sewer expenses through the Yorba Linda Water District.

Most disappointing delay: The ethics ordinance prohibiting campaign contributions by city contractors and limiting donations from parties who benefit from council decisions.

Most game-changing City Council action: Identifying 13 properties, 11 on the westside, for potential higher-density development to satisfy state-mandated housing requirements.

Most ripe for reform: Classifying City Council members as “employees,” thus allowing them $125 Calpers and $833 health or retirement plan contributions, city-paid, monthly.

Most misleading signage: Three “Work in Progress” signs in front of boarded-up city-owned properties in Old Town should more accurately read “Discussions in Progress.”

Most rewarding activity: 2009 marked my 50th continuous year of full and parttime work in the newspaper field, involving high school, college and many community publications.

No name change for Community Center

This city’s elected leaders will spend a good portion of the Christmas holidays pouring over a 71-page document that examines Yorba Linda’s law enforcement contract with Brea and explores potential alternatives to the pioneering pact negotiated 40 years ago.

The report evaluates the current service provided by Brea and assesses other options: creating a Yorba Linda police force, contracting with another city or county Sheriff’s Department and forming a joint powers agreement with Brea or a different city or cities.

The study was produced by Rocklin, California-based consultants Ralph Anderson & Associates, and is scheduled for a first public airing at a City Council session Jan. 19.

An advance look at the report shows the study’s $43,000 cost is among the city’s best-spent dollars for 2009, even if Yorba Linda continues the Brea contract 40 more years.

Among the wealth of facts and figures in the report are well-reasoned estimates of the costs of forming a Yorba Linda-only department and important comparisons of Brea- provided service pricing with what the county Sheriff offers other cities.

And worth the cost of the study alone are 47 specific recommendations for improving Brea’s service to Yorba Linda, some of which could save money now and others after the current five-year contract expires in 2012.

Projected annual operating budget for a Yorba Linda Police Department is estimated to be a bit more than $13 million, plus close to $3.5 million of “transitional expense,” for nearly $16.5 million in first-year expenses and start-up costs.

Expenses include $500,000 for facility rent, but construction costs for a 21,000-square-foot building would approach $11.5 million. “Finding the available land and adequate funds for a Yorba Linda police station would seem challenging,” the report noted.

Yorba Linda will pay Brea close to $11 million for 2009-10 fiscal year services, some 38 percent of Yorba Linda’s general fund budget, according to the report. That’s about $165 per resident, compared to Brea’s cost of around $371.

Stand-alone departments cost Placentia $242, Cypress $298 and Tustin $288 per resident. Lake Forest’s contract with the Orange County Sheriff costs $161, Chino Hills’ with San Bernardino County $128 and Diamond Bar’s with Los Angeles County $94.

The report detailed problems with other options, such as contracting with another city. Placentia’s financial problems, as well as Anaheim’s size and Yorba Linda’s lawsuits with that city, make them unlikely partners.

Similar difficulties and less probable cost savings surround joint powers arrangements, making a county Sheriff’s contract the most viable option to the Brea agreement. This potential competition might work to keep police costs reasonable for future years

Study examines Brea police contract, options

This city’s elected leaders will spend a good portion of the Christmas holidays pouring over a 71-page document that examines Yorba Linda’s law enforcement contract with Brea and explores potential alternatives to the pioneering pact negotiated 40 years ago.

The report evaluates the current service provided by Brea and assesses other options: creating a Yorba Linda police force, contracting with another city or county Sheriff’s Department and forming a joint powers agreement with Brea or a different city or cities.

The study was produced by Rocklin, California-based consultants Ralph Anderson & Associates, and is scheduled for a first public airing at a City Council session Jan. 19.

An advance look at the report shows the study’s $43,000 cost is among the city’s best-spent dollars for 2009, even if Yorba Linda continues the Brea contract 40 more years.

Among the wealth of facts and figures in the report are well-reasoned estimates of the costs of forming a Yorba Linda-only department and important comparisons of Brea- provided service pricing with what the county Sheriff offers other cities.

And worth the cost of the study alone are 47 specific recommendations for improving Brea’s service to Yorba Linda, some of which could save money now and others after the current five-year contract expires in 2012.

Projected annual operating budget for a Yorba Linda Police Department is estimated to be a bit more than $13 million, plus close to $3.5 million of “transitional expense,” for nearly $16.5 million in first-year expenses and start-up costs.

Expenses include $500,000 for facility rent, but construction costs for a 21,000-square-foot building would approach $11.5 million. “Finding the available land and adequate funds for a Yorba Linda police station would seem challenging,” the report noted.

Yorba Linda will pay Brea close to $11 million for 2009-10 fiscal year services, some 38 percent of Yorba Linda’s general fund budget, according to the report. That’s about $165 per resident, compared to Brea’s cost of around $371.

Stand-alone departments cost Placentia $242, Cypress $298 and Tustin $288 per resident. Lake Forest’s contract with the Orange County Sheriff costs $161, Chino Hills’ with San Bernardino County $128 and Diamond Bar’s with Los Angeles County $94.

The report detailed problems with other options, such as contracting with another city. Placentia’s financial problems, as well as Anaheim’s size and Yorba Linda’s lawsuits with that city, make them unlikely partners.

Similar difficulties and less probable cost savings surround joint powers arrangements, making a county Sheriff’s contract the most viable option to the Brea agreement. This potential competition might work to keep police costs reasonable for future years.

Boarded up houses bedevil the City Council

“Work in Progress” reads a small sign fronting three city-owned, boarded-up houses on Lakeview Avenue, just north of the Original Pancake House on Yorba Linda Boulevard.

Two similar signs are posted on city parcels on School Street and Valencia Avenue, less-traveled lanes between Lakeview Avenue and Main Street in the historic Old Town area.

Currently, however, some of the “work” involves wrangling among divided City Council members—whose names are listed on each sign—whether to rehabilitate or raze some or all of 12 vacant units controlled by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

The dozen residences are located on 10 of about 50 city-owned parcels in the downtown area, and were built between 1913 and 1951. The city began buying Old Town property in 1975, but most lots were purchased in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In a report to the council, Pam Stoker, the city housing and redevelopment specialist, noted, “In order to assemble developable parcels, many of the structures that were on these [50] parcels have been demolished over the years and the land graded.”

An elaborate Town Center redevelopment plan advanced five years ago failed to win broad support among Yorba Lindans, so now, based on recommendations from a 24-member Blue Ribbon Committee, city-hired consultants are mapping new proposals.

Meanwhile, council members are trying to decide what to do with fenced-off, boarded-up units that are drawing negative comments from residents throughout the city. “Eyesores” and “public nuisance” are just two descriptions by recent speakers at council meetings.

Council members have different opinions on if, how and when any or all of the homes should be rehabilitated and rented until Town Center plans are shovel-ready, based on statements each made at a November council meeting.

According to Stoker, rehabilitation costs for the units range from $50,000 to $135,000, with sufficient Redevelopment Agency funding available to complete renovations, but “other agency projects may need to be delayed or eliminated as a result.”

With monthly market-rate rents of $1,245 for one-bedroom, $1,550 for two bedroom and $1,975 for three bedroom units, the RDA could see a positive investment return for most of the properties by the third year, Stoker noted.

The investment return could be extended to recoup additional costs if units are moved to another location, and when maintenance, property management and insurance are added, Stoker stated. Demolition and clean-up costs for the 12 structures are estimated to be from $9,000 to $12,000 each.

Actual progress will be further delayed, since after much discussion council directed staff “to redo the scope of work, removing some of the unneeded items with special preference to the oldest homes, continue the item and bring it back to council at a future meeting.”

Yorba Linda turnouts low for special elections

Schedule a special election in this city and a sizeable majority of Yorba Lindans won’t bother to cast ballots—either at a voting precinct or by mail from the comfort of home.

Nearly four out of five of eligible Yorba Linda voters ignored the Nov. 17 election to replace former state Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who resigned his seat Sept. 9 after a self-described incident of “inappropriate storytelling” caught by an open microphone.

That’s about the same number who overlooked the special election to choose Duvall’s City Council successor in June 2007. The two-time mayor had resigned his six-year council post in December 2006, when he assumed his Assembly seat in Sacramento.

And more than three out of five city voters didn’t cast ballots this past May in the statewide special election, in which voters defeated five out of six propositions.

By contrast, fewer than one out of five Yorba Lindans disregarded the November 2008 Presidential election, although not all of the 35,085 voters reached the end of the ballot listing the council, school trustee and water district director races.

The turnout for the special Nov. 17 primary to select party candidates for Duvall’s old job totaled just 22.3 percent in Yorba Linda, but that edged the13.3 to 20.6 percent turnout in the 72nd district’s other cities: Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton, La Habra, Orange and Placentia.

Of the 4,926 voters who marked ballots, 1,116 were cast at precincts and 3,810 were mailed. The 72nd includes 22,101 westside Yorba Linda voters, half of the city’s total.

The citywide turnout for the special 2007 council election, won by Hank Wedaa for an eighth term, was 8,362 of 40,957 registered voters (20.4 percent), and the vote in the special statewide May election was 15,213 of 42,977 registered voters (35.4 percent).

In the 2007 election, voters cast 2,399 precinct ballots and 5,963 mail-in ballots. The 2008 Presidential ballot, cast by 81.6 percent of Yorba Linda’s 43,010 eligible voters, included 19,038 precinct, 284 early voting and 16,047 mail-in ballots.

Turnout in the Country Club and Fairlynn county islands is always a bit stronger. Of 1,113 voters, 285 (25.6 percent) cast ballots in the Nov. 17 contest, all but 75 by mail.

The next special election is the Jan. 12 runoff pitting Republican winner Chris Norby against Democrat John MacMurray and the Green Party’s Jane Rands.