Expect constructive changes by council

Happily, the election of two brand-new City Council members promises to move Yorba Linda in a more positive and less divisive direction, as newcomers Gene Hernandez and Craig Young take seats at the governing body dais Dec. 4.

Let’s look at some constructive changes residents can expect as a result of the breakup of the former three-vote council majority (John Anderson, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing):

--A return to a popular and long-standing policy of rotating the position of mayor among all five council members, rather than passing over “minority” members, when selecting a colleague to serve for one year in the largely ceremonial presiding officer post.

The rotation policy began at the 1967 seating of the first council, when the five winners from a diverse 27-candidate field decided each would serve six months as mayor in the order of votes received, until the 1970 election, when all seats again were on the ballot.

Because five members serve staggered four-year terms and some members don’t seek re-election or are turned out by voters, a seamless rotation isn’t possible. But in the past few years, Jan Horton and Jim Winder were noticeably passed over for the top spot.

In fact, Horton is the only council member to never serve as mayor, and Winder served just 20 months in a 12-year council career, less than other two and three-term members. Previously, longtime member Hank Wedaa was dumped from the rotation in the 1990s.

Although Tom Lindsey was selected mayor pro-tem last year, his elevation to the top job was iffy, since he broke from 2010 running mate John Anderson on key votes and supported Hernandez and Young over Rikel and Schwing.

But expect Lindsey to become mayor on a 5-0 vote, in recognition of the new political realities, with Young, second to now-mayor Schwing in the vote tally, named mayor pro-tem. A return to rotation will eliminate some of the needless council and citizen discord.

--Schwing, the top vote-getter in four of his five successful council campaigns (he lost two others), might assume a more conciliatory role as “elder statesman,” since Lindsey and the two newcomers will have a total of two years experience with council business.

Schwing’s 12 years on council 1988-2000 and four years since 2008, along with attending most council meetings 2000-2008, gives him a vast store of knowledge of the reasons behind council actions during the last quarter-century.

He also was in a council minority during his earlier tenure and a majority during the past four years, so he could use the experiences to promote more harmony and less animosity during contentious council discussions.

--The sheriff deputy union’s very generous “independent expenditure” support for Rikel, Schwing and Ken Peterson was as troubling as the money coming from builders and real estate interests in this and many past election cycles.

A new contract with the county sheriff now has three overseers in Hernandez, Lindsey and Young, who were not supported by the 2,200-member, cash-rich deputy union and whose votes will be untainted by possible perceptions of payback.

Volunteers are strength of the community

Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to remember that Yorba Linda’s great strength as a community is due to the large number of volunteers who each year devote thousands of hours to the events and organizations that make this city an outstanding place to live.

And for 95 years, articles in the weekly pages of the Yorba Linda Star have recounted the activities of these civic-minded individuals who comprise this community’s religious and charitable institutions, youth organizations, sports leagues and service clubs.

Two volunteer groups deserve additional recognition for important contributions in the diverse tasks of helping residents celebrate community identity and assisting neighbors during times of emotional distress.

The return of the Fiesta Days parade on Imperial Highway and day-long festival on Main Street after a three-year absence was an exceptional achievement, thanks to the dozens of volunteers, led by Craig Hall, who worked for a year to renew this cherished tradition.

The non-profit Yorba Linda Fiesta Days Foundation now handles the event, taking over from the old Yorba Linda Service League that organized activities for 40 years, beginning in October 1968 when league members sought to heal wounds from a contentious incorporation election the previous Fall.

Not all community members favored cityhood in the 1960s, and early advocates carefully drew the city’s first boundaries to exclude pockets of opposition when the matter reached the ballot, with the left-out areas added by annexations in later years.

The first parade involved volunteers who had fought on both sides of the issue and much of the campaign’s bitterness dissipated during planning for the first city-wide celebration.

One wise decision this year was to hold the event after the November election, instead of the traditional late-October date, so office-seekers couldn’t use the occasion to campaign, distribute flyers and otherwise button-hole residents out to enjoy a fun weekend day.

A different group of volunteers that has undertaken an especially tough task work under the banner of a nationwide non-profit called the Trauma Intervention Program. Some of the Yorba Lindans involved described their activities at a recent City Council meeting.

TIP volunteers respond to traumatic incidents at the request of public safety personnel to aid victims, their families and friends. Founder Wayne Fortin told council members the volunteers assisted 121 Yorba Linda residents last year and introduced five of the city’s volunteers, Debbie Collins, Paula Diluigi, Paula Dubois, Cindy Gosting and A.J. Licausi.

Yorba Linda has contracted with TIP, at an annual cost of about 12 cents per resident, since 2001 to provide “emotional first aid” after a variety of traumatic events, such as a death, violent crime, fire, accident or suicide, to help individuals needing immediate support.

Volunteers attend a 55-hour training academy, pass an extensive background check, take continuing education coursework and are “on call” 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Visit tiporangecounty.org for volunteer information.

Union enters city politics with big bucks

A new, deep-pocket special interest group joined Yorba Linda’s political arena this year, but, as often happens with outside organizations, the body’s leaders and consultants mis-read this city’s electoral climate and might have done their cause as much harm as good.


Voters were inundated with campaign material from an “independent expenditure” wing of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff organization that represents officers who will begin patrolling this city’s streets in six months under a new police contract.

The deputy union supported Ken Peterson, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing for three City Council seats on this month’s ballot and spent lavishly on colorful, slick-paper flyers that were mailed to most of Yorba Linda’s 45,494 registered voters.

In October alone, independent expenditures totaled $62,030 for the trio, with bills paid from Oct. 21 through Dec. 31 not due for reporting until Jan. 31. The union reported a cash-on-hand total of $463,922 in the “independent expenditure” account as of Oct. 20.

The union also has two other entities registered with the California Secretary of State. A “political action committee” reported $116,000 cash available and an “issues committee” reported a balance of $11,732, both as of Sept. 30.

The political action committee has been active in supporting Democrats with large donations: the 2010 Jerry Brown effort received $41,300; Brown’s 2014 committee already has received $5,000; and the 2014 committees for Attorney General Kamala Harris and State Controller Bill Lockyer were given $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.

Another longtime beneficiary of the union’s political action committee is the Democratic Party of Orange County, given $15,700 since 2007. A few Republicans seeking partisan and non-partisan offices have received smaller contributions, mostly in the $500 to $1,500 range, in various primary and general election cycles.

The “issues committee” most recently spent $10,000 to oppose Proposition 32, which would have ended involuntary deductions from union member paychecks. The group also spent $9,950 supporting Measures J and K in Stanton in the June primary.

J, which was defeated, would have increased the city’s utility tax to “preserve” city services, and K, which passed, was an advisory vote to “prioritize” public safety in City Council deliberations on allocating city funds.

The union also has spent $94,450 on “general lobbying” from 2009 through Sept. 30 this year. The current lobbyist is San Dimas-based James Vogts, who also lobbies for five other police associations.

But this city’s voters didn’t go for a sweep of union-supported candidates, probably due to the ill-advised massive mailings. A similar situation took place in 2006, when voters narrowly approved Measure B, which requires a public vote on major land-use changes.

B opponents also overspent, with a $174,150 war chest from builder and real estate groups that paid for an onslaught of anti-B mailers, on occasion arriving two-a-day.

Yorba Lindans actually look to see who is paying to influence their votes.

Candidates raise record sum for election

This year’s election to select three individuals to serve on Yorba Linda’s City Council will go down in the municipality’s 45-year history as the most expensive campaign so far, easily outdistancing the previous 24 council ballots in money raised and spent.

Through Oct. 20, seven candidates and five groups supporting two separate slates raised more than $222,000 in cash, goods and services to fund the battle for a majority of seats on a council contentiously divided 3-2 on several key issues for the past four years.

And the already-record $222,470 sum is sure to exceed the quarter-million-dollar mark when all income and expenses are totaled from documents filed by the candidates and committees with the City Clerk and California Secretary of State by a Jan 31 deadline.

At an Oct. 20 cut-off date for a state-mandated accounting, six of seven candidates reported they raised $137,902 in cash and other resources, with four groups adding $84,568 and a fifth not yet reporting obvious expenses incurred for one contender.

Biggest spender through Oct. 20 was the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, as listed in an “independent expenditure” filing with the state, which detailed $62,030 in spending on Oct. 2, 3, 9, 12 and 17 for Ken Peterson, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing.

The total reported by Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, which also supported Peterson, Rikel and Schwing, was $7,370, mostly from nine loans from people long associated with the group, although a July garage sale brought in $1,288.

Another political action committee, United Citizens for Yorba Linda, supporters of Gene Hernandez, Lou Knappenberger and Craig Young, reported $10,366 in donations, mostly from 10 individuals, many of whom were active in the attempt to recall John Anderson.

A committee named “Vote Hernandez, Knappenberger, Young for Yorba Linda City Council 2012,” with three-term Councilman Jim Winder as treasurer and “controlling officer,” listed a $4,802 total.

Interestingly, a $500 contribution came from Councilman Tom Lindsey and his wife. Lindsey was Anderson’s running-mate in 2010 and was endorsed by Rikel, Schwing and Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation in that election.

The fifth group is Orange County Jobs Coalition, which in October sent out three mailers for Hernandez. Although the coalition is listed as “active” by the California Secretary of State, that agency noted the group hadn’t filed any reports as of Nov. 1. (My estimate for three mailers ranges from $12,000 to $18,000, depending on number sent.)

Individual candidates reported raising the following amounts for their campaigns through Oct. 20: Hernandez, $46,440; Young, $32,279; Rikel, $26,018; Schwing, $16,250; Peterson, $12,966; and Knappenberger, $3,949. Todd Cooper didn’t file a report, which indicates he raised and spent less than $1,000.

Much of the cash came from self-made loans, which stand at $39,500 for Rikel (for both 2008 and 2012); $25,000 for Young; $13,456 for Schwing; $10,000 for Peterson; $6,000 for Hernandez; and $3,103 for Knappenberger.

Column updates: low-cost housing units, Friends Christian High School progress

Time to update two topics from past columns--and add a new note:

--Despite the dissolution of the city’s Redevelopment Agency and the dispute with state officials over some of the late agency’s financial obligations, the city’s 2011 decision to acquire units in several residential complexes for affordable housing can continue.

The city has purchased 26 of 48 approved units through September, with funding from Redevelopment Agency property tax revenue before Feb. 1 and by the state-authorized Successor Agency since. City Council members named themselves to both bodies.

Acquisitions are permitted in any condominium complex, but six--five on the westside and one on the eastside--were identified in 2011 for additional buys: Evergreen Villas, The Hills, Jamestown, Lakeview Retirement, Rancho Linda and Yorba Linda Village.

Initially, $9 million was set aside for purchases, with $5.7 million remaining in the fund, according to the latest listing. The purchased units have “affordable covenants,” so they count in meeting the city’s state-mandated allocation for low-cost housing.

Acquired units are administered by Evergreen Villas L.P., which also handles affordable properties previously purchased in the city. The firm rehabilitates and markets the units as rentals to low-income households.

--Friends Christian High School reps and city staff are meeting “to address refinements” in the ground lease for 32 acres of city-owned land along Bastanchury Road “to make it a financeable document,” according to the school’s latest report to the City Council.

“Performance standards are proposed to be added to the lease documents to ensure that the project commences and progresses in a timely manner,” the report stated. Possible termination of the unpaid lease was delayed another 120 days at an Aug. 21 meeting.

Rent negotiations are expected to take into consideration the property’s fair market value by two independent appraisers, evaluations projected to be completed early this month. A target date for presenting the new lease has been fixed for the Nov. 20 council meeting.

“Refinements” to a city-school pact for the joint-use of school facilities also are planned for discussion, with new verbiage “to ensure that the guiding principles…will be clearly spelled out and available to future participants in the administration of this program.”

Four payments totaling about $840,000 remain due for the current calendar year. School officials previously said they cannot obtain financing to build the proposed 1,200-student campus due to terms in the lease that has 94 remaining years.

--Restaurant owner Roslyn Ruocco, barbershop proprietor Mike Ruocco, hardware store owner Art Brown and insurance agent Dale Madsen were interviewed by Swedish media recently for a story on the election published in the daily Expressen newspaper.

Reporter Niklas Orrenius and photographer Axel Oberg visited Main Street and toured the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace before traveling to Ohio. Orrenius had viewed this column online from Sweden and emailed to ask me to set up local interviews.