School bond sale has residents talking

Much of the talk around town the past week-and-a-half has focused on reporter Melody Peterson's revealing story in the Feb. 17 Orange County Register detailing the sale of a portion of $200 million in voter-approved Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District bonds.

The sale involved $22 million of the larger package, which, according to Petersen's reporting, will cost $280 million, nearly 13 times the original amount, with the non-callable payback period beginning in 2031 and running until 2049 at interest rates from 6.98 to 7.8 percent.

Interestingly, while the $200 million bond bundle was approved by district-wide voters in the February 2008 presidential primary, Yorba Linda voters didn't give the bonds the 55 percent necessary for passage.

This city's voters gave the bonds a 52.5 percent majority, 573 votes less than the 55 percent needed. County Club and Fairlynn county island voters were more generous, logging a 54.7 percent majority, just three votes shy of the threshold.

The measure passed, however, with a total 864 votes over 55 percent, due to the “yes” count in Placentia at 60.2 percent and the district's portions of Anaheim at 64.2 percent, Brea at 57 percent, Fullerton at 66 percent and other unincorporated county territory at 57.5 percent.

One reason for the higher “no” vote in Yorba Linda might have been the fact that the new Yorba Linda High School was already funded from other sources, including a portion of a $102 million measure approved by 66 percent of voters in 2002 and redevelopment revenue.

No organized opposition arose during the 2008 campaign, and, as I noted in a 2009 column, $263,773 was raised to support the pro-Measure A Campaign for Kids committee, mostly by nearly two dozen architectural, banking, construction and landscaping firms.

One of the emails I received from a resident about Petersen's investigation asked me why the matter was not brought up in the recent school board elections. Of course, Petersen's account came long after November 2012, but another reason is that no election was held.

Three incumbent trustees were scheduled for the ballot, but nobody filed to run against Judi Carmona, Carol Downey and Eric Padget, so the trio were appointed to four-year terms and their names didn't appear on the ballot, as state election law allows.

Of course, mounting a campaign to challenge incumbents in a district with 83,131 registered voters is expensive. My prior examinations of trustee election financial reports shows that most of the campaign cash comes from the Association of Placentia-Linda Educators, the union representing the district's approximate 1,200 teachers.

A non-union-supported candidate who slipped by was Rose Drive parent Carrie Buck, who knocked off appointed incumbent Kim Palmer in 2010 by 218 votes. Her term is up in 2014, along with Karin Freeman, who was named to the board in 1989 after the dissolution of the Yorba Linda Elementary School District.

New Housing Element eyed for Yorba Linda

Work is underway on a new, state-mandated Housing Element for Yorba Linda that will detail plans to meet housing needs through 2021 for households at all economic levels.

The element will identify potential sites for 669 new households from four income levels, 160 very low, 113 low, 126 moderate and 270 above moderate. The numbers come from a recent assessment of regional housing needs by the Southern California Association of Governments.

The city's current plan for 2008-2013 covers an allocation of 2,039 units--460 very low, 371 low, 412 moderate and 796 above moderate--with state approval earned after a public vote allowed rezoning on two Savi Ranch and nine westside parcels for affordable units in 2012.

Usually, very low income is defined as less than $32,550 per year, low up to $52,050 and moderate up to $73,250.

Citizen participation in the process is expected to include a workshop at the Community Center, with comment also possible at study sessions and hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council.

The public workshop portion will solicit input on “community needs and policy direction,” according to a prospectus from consultants hired to develop the plan. The meeting date will be advertised, with stakeholders notified by mail.

A major component of the plan will be a “comprehensive program strategy” for housing needs for the entire 2013-2021 period. “With the elimination of Redevelopment Agency resources to support affordable housing, an important goal will be to re-evaluate...housing priorities within the resources available,” the consultants noted.

A “site availability” section will include an inventory of vacant and “underutilized” parcels now zoned for residential development and identification of “potential additional residential areas” under consideration in a General Plan update also underway.

A Housing Element is part of a city's General Plan, often called the “constitution for local land-use decisions.” This city's original General Plan of 1971 was revised in 1993, with the current update expected to be completed later this year.

If the new element is adopted by the council by Oct. 15, the plan will apply for an eight-year cycle instead of a four-year period. Contract for the update was awarded Pasadena-based Karen Warner & Associates, the firm that prepared the most recent report. Cost is $36,000, with another $12,300 to Impact Sciences for an environmental impact report addendum.

Note: Trimmed from last week's column (in the Yorba Linda Star) were the significant cost-per-vote figures for November's City Council election, including candidate and apportioned independent committee spending: $5.40, $3.22 and $2.42, respectively, for winners Gene Hernandez, Mark Schwing and Craig Young, and $5.39 and $3.66 for Ken Peterson and Nancy Rikel.

Some campaign finance committees closed, candidate election expenses revealed for 2012

A glimpse into Yorba Linda's current political scene is provided by the dozens of pages of campaign finance reports filed by candidates and committees to meet a Jan. 31 deadline.

In the month's final days, Mayor Tom Lindsey, City Council members John Anderson and Mark Schwing and former member Jan Horton closed committees they had used to raise funds for election campaigns.

The closures don't necessarily mean the four aren't considering future runs for office, but the usual practice is for committees to remain operating to collect cash for upcoming campaigns.

And the closings do mean they've “forgiven” some of the loans they made to their own committees, loans they once hoped would be repaid by future contributions from other donors, often a sign politicians are winding down affairs.

Anderson was able to repay himself $11,249 in self-made loans from donations, leaving him with $2,250 in forgiven debt, while Horton, his political adversary, left $17,300 in loans and a $349 balance on the books.

Schwing closed his 2008 committee, forgiving $14,000 in self-made loans, but left his 2012 committee, with a $17,011 debt, intact. The Lindsey committee had no debt when closed. A state regulation implemented Feb. 1 applies a $50 annual fee on open committees.

Council members are notoriously shy about too-early electoral announcements, and Lindsey says he hasn't decided on a 2014 run for a second term, labeling it “a tough personal issue.” Anderson and Schwing are each eligible for another term under the city's three-term limit law.

The reports also show the 2012 campaign was the most expensive council race in city history, with expenditures by and for the top five candidates totaling $264,315.

Biggest spender in the election was the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, which paid out $78,839 in support of Ken Peterson, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing. The business-oriented Orange County Jobs Coalition spent $21,047 supporting Gene Hernandez.

Expenditures by candidates and the apportioned expenses by four independent committees were $73,723 for Hernandez; $52,611 for Peterson; $49,952 for Rikel; $49,554 for Schwing; and $35,759 for Craig Young.

The per-vote spending for winners Hernandez, Schwing and Young was $5.40, $3.22 and $2.42, respectively, and $5.39 and $3.66 for runners-up Peterson and Rikel.

Gullixson remains active in city issues

Few, if any, of the 32 individuals elected to the Yorba Linda City Council since incorporation had as controversial a tenure as attorney John Gullixson, who continues to be extolled and excoriated from the dais and public comment podium 10 years after he left office.

The outspoken governing body member counted many victories during his three terms, 1990-2002, including major improvements to Imperial Highway, completed after he led opposition to a ballot measure aimed at halting the project.

Gullixson also lost on key issues, such as his fight against a Placentia-Yorba Linda school district lawsuit that recovered millions of dollars from the city's then-active Redevelopment Agency. And his feud with 30-year councilman Hank Wedaa became city legend.

Now, after several years as executive director of a government agency in tiny Plumas County, Gullixson is representing the Rancho Dominguez Community Association in legal actions regarding assessments to fund the city's Landscape Maintenance Assessment District.

Gullixson claims one victory in the struggle, involving “settlement negotiations and mediation,” with the city agreeing “to refund overcharged...assessments of nearly $600,000” to 218 parcel owners in the HOA.

However, Gullixson says city staff and council “fail to acknowledge that they continue to violate the constitutional rights of parcel-owning citizens,” adding that “municipal and state government...has been focused on tax and assessment schemes...largely undetected by the public....”

Gullixson maintains, “When a person is elected to a city council, the first thing a staff does is compliment, praise, slap backs and otherwise try to get that new member to 'join' the city team. The goal is to make that new member a defender and promoter of the team.”

“Unfortunately, most new council members are usurped by these tactics and...rubber stamp staff recommendation instead of scrutinizing...reports,” Gullixson notes, with members becoming “protectors of the staff,” rather than representing the people. “Having sat on... council for 12 years, I saw this first-hand.”

“The biggest problem,” Gullixson says, is the public “doesn't understand” local government “can be the bad guy, the flim-flam man that is virtually stealing from all of its parcel-owning citizens on a day-to-day basis without legal right.”

Fortunately, recent Yorba Linda councils often question staff reports and tweak or turn back staff recommendations. For example, the police contract issue began with council ignoring staff advice to continue negotiating with Brea rather than invoking a termination clause in November 2011.

But Gullixson, a conservative activist dating back to the campaigns of Richard Nixon, isn't satisfied with current government oversight. He says, “When the target doesn't feel the pick-pocket take his wallet, he doesn't react....California and local government have been picking our pocket for years and years a little at a time and most just don't feel it, yet.”