Only one surprise as Yorba Linda's elected boards select officers to serve one-year terms during 2016

Only one surprise surfaced during the annual selections of officers to lead the locally elected governing boards with jurisdiction in Yorba Linda.

Generally, City Council members, water district directors and school trustees rotate each of their colleagues through the boards' leadership positions for one-year terms, demurring just when political gamesmanship interferes with the traditional, orderly process.

The exceptions have occurred mostly in the council's yearly selection of a mayor and mayor pro tem, when members on the short side of 3-2 and 4-1 voting alignments are, on occasion, pettishly excluded from the largely ceremonial positions.

However, the surprise this year came in the Yorba Linda Water District, as unanimous votes extended the terms of President Ric Collett and Vice President Mike Beverage for a second year.

The district has rotated the positions each year since directors were first elected by the public in 1959, but Beverage, next in line to be president, suggested Collett serve another year “due to the continued drought and other events which had occurred during the previous year,” meeting minutes stated.

Interestingly, the seats now held by Beverage and Collett are the two scheduled for the November ballot. Beverage, a single-term councilman in the 1980s, was first elected in 1992, and Collett's initial term began in 2004. They faced no opposition in the 2012 election.

Another task for directors is to “consider” the board member “compensation rate,” an annual agenda item. Again this year, directors – as they have since 2003, when they raised the per-meeting stipend to $150 for up to 10 meetings per month – wisely declined an increase.

State law allows the directors to raise their pay 5 percent each year, which could have led to a $269.38 per-meeting paycheck starting this year. However, the review didn't consider medical, dental and vision benefits that currently cost from $8,963 to $15,124 yearly per participant.

Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustees followed their rotation policy by elevating Judi Carmona to the presidency, replacing Eric Padget, with Karin Freeman named vice president and Carol Downey clerk. Seats now held by Carmona, Downey and Padget are scheduled for the Nov. 8 ballot.

Trustees also review board compensation as a regular agenda item each year, but in a 5-0 vote this time, they boosted their $750 monthly pay the state-allowed 5 percent to $787.50, a bit behind the 5.5 percent employee raises granted earlier for the current fiscal year.

Council's occasionally volatile selection process went smoothly this round, with unanimous votes selecting Tom Lindsey mayor and Peggy Huang mayor pro tem. Seats held by Gene Hernandez, Mark Schwing and Craig Young will be on November ballot.

Hernandez continues as the city's rep at the Fire Authority, Huang at Vector Control and Young at the toll roads agency, with $100-$120 per-meeting pay.

Business owners file claim for damages; City Council hires lobbying firm for monthly fee

Two topics this week: A claim for damages related to Yorba Linda's recent Town Center roadwork filed by longtime, prominent business owners and a renewed attempt to lobby state politicians and agencies on matters of financial concern to the city.

The claim, filed by Walt and Jeanne Tamulinas, owners of the ERA North Orange County real estate firm on Yorba Linda Boulevard in Town Center, alleged $261,882 in lost business income due to road construction during six months from December 2014 through May 2015.

The company “saw sales plummet 35 percent compared to a year earlier, while the Orange County real estate market enjoyed the same or better sales than the year before during the same period,” noted the Tamulinas claim against the city.

In a separate letter to the city, Walt Tamulinas stated, “On many occasions there was limited or no access to our office. There were numerous occasions our agents, clients, vendors and employees couldn't get in and out of the parking lot.”

The loss, Walt Tamulinas noted, was $243,249 for the real estate firm and another $18,633 for New World Escrow, whose primary customer is ERA. “As soon as construction vehicles, contractors and traffic congestions were reduced, our new sales soared....,” he said.

In denying the claim earlier this month, the city stated the staff “monitored the traffic control provided by the contractor throughout the road improvement project” and “ensured that the entrance ways” to company offices “were unimpeded and fully accessible during construction.”

Walt Tamulinas told me he's “trying to avoid” a lawsuit that would be “a last alternative” and that he expects to reach a compromise agreement with the Town Center developer “soon.”

An agreement for “professional legislative advocacy and government services” – commonly called “lobbying” – has won City Council approval on a unanimous vote. Hired for a $4,000 monthly fee is Joe A. Gonsalves & Son, which also lobbied for the city from 1990 to 2005.

“The city currently requires assistance on matters involving state agencies,” according to a report from Dave Christian, the city's assistant city manager, finance director and treasurer.

“As one example, the city is seeking assistance in determining how to proceed with its lawsuit with the Department of Finance regarding the repayment of a loan between the former Redevelopment Agency and the city and the potential use of the...Agency's 2011 bond proceeds,” Christian noted.

The agreement, which can be terminated with 30 days notice, requires the Gonsalves group to communicate city interests to “elected representatives, key staff members, state agencies and other individuals as needed.”

Also, the firm will develop, coordinate and execute city efforts to influence legislation or administrative action, review legislative bills affecting the city and identify state funding available for city programs and capital projects, among other duties. 

Council acts on Town Center parking plans

Two interesting actions regarding Yorba Linda's long-awaited Town Center merit attention.

Both involve the project's parking plans that most stakeholders agree will have a significant impact on the success or failure of the area's proposed business ventures.

First, two parcels from the 27 city-owned downtown properties scheduled to be sold to the City Council-selected developer, Zelman Retail Partners, have been dropped from the sale list that, with pricing, is still under negotiation.

Instead, they'll be retained by the city for a four-story parking structure located partially on parcels owned by the city and partially on lots owned by the Successor Agency to the city's disbanded Redevelopment Agency. The council is the “successor agency.”

The successor agency properties, at 4862 School St. and 4861 and 4863 Valencia Ave., are near the center of the area targeted for new development, facilitating a key “park once, walk to multiple destinations” strategy.

The state-mandated dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2012 required cities to address future use or disposition of agency-owned properties by adopting a Long Range Property Management Plan.

This city's plan originally identified the land now proposed for the parking structure as part of the 27-parcel package to be sold to the Zelman group. Now, an amended document has been sent to the state noting the total 11,905 square feet properties will be used for parking.

Eliminating the parcels from the Town Center land sale will result in a gross loss of $128,000, according to a report from Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager. Eight per cent of that would have gone to the city and 92 percent to other taxing entities.

Second, the council established a “parking in-lieu fee” to help pay for the city-owned and maintained parking structure. The fee is voluntary, since it will only be paid by owners and developers who choose not to provide the required parking spaces for their projects.

“As proposed, the Town Center public parking structure may include approximately 429 spaces. Should every space be accounted for through the in-lieu program, at a one-time fee of $5,000 per space, then the program could potentially generate $2.1 million,” Stoker noted in a separate report to council members.

A city-hired consultant concluded that parking in-lieu programs provide flexibility, operate as an economic development tool and facilitate otherwise infeasible projects, Stoker explained.

The programs also allow better urban design and can be used to partially offset the costs for providing the parking, Stoker added. At present, planning and design for the structure “is in progress.”

An earlier study concluded Town Center needs 1,122 spaces weekdays and 1,039 spaces weekends, leaving a deficit of 316 spaces weekdays and 245 spaces weekends at build-out, based on existing and planned parking, not including the structure. 

Good financial news for local campuses

Considering the many financial difficulties faced by public schools in past years, reporting on a continuing trend of good economic news for Placentia-Yorba Linda campuses is a pleasure.

Here's the latest:

--A state-required interim report on the local district's financial solvency recently submitted to the county schools superintendent shows “the district can meet its financial obligations for the year ending June 30, 2016, and two subsequent years.”

The upbeat document from James Pham, the district's director of fiscal services, notes that revenue is expected to total nearly $252 million, with about $1.7 million left after all the bills are paid at the end of the current fiscal year.

And, although expenditures are expected to exceed income for both of the next two years, the district's reserve balance “designated for economic uncertainties” will remain in the $12 million range, with unappropriated reserves very close to five percent of budget for all three years.

This year's enrollment is 25,636, projected to drop 138 students next year and 155 more the following year. Average daily attendance will approach 97 percent for 185 days of instruction.

Pension costs will rise from this year's 10.73 percent of payroll to 12.58 percent in 2017 and 14.43 percent in 2018 in the State Teachers Retirement System and from 11.85 percent this year to 13.05 percent in 2017 and 16.6 percent in 2018 in the Public Employees Retirement System.

--A savings of $13.4 million could come from issuing new “certificates of participation” with a principal amount not to exceed $88 million to prepay certificates issued in 2006 and used to build Yorba Linda High School and refinance a 2003 lease payment obligation.

“The current market has reached historic lows and refunding the 2006 certificates produces significant savings,” Assistant Superintendent David Giordano reported to trustees at a recent meeting.

Savings will be reduced by expenses in issuing new certificates and refunding the older ones.

--An incentive for teachers to not wait until the end of the school year to announce retirements or resignations will double this year to $2,000, if they give notice by Jan. 15. The usual $1,000 incentive will apply for teachers who provide notice from Jan. 16 through March 1.

The notifications “can help in the early recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers,” according to officials. “The sooner an employee notifies the district of their intent to terminate their employment, the earlier we are able to offer a contract to a potential teacher.”

--Solar power systems mounted on carports and shade structures might meet some of the district's energy needs, if a $48,625 feasibility study shows promise. Vendor selection and contract and design reviews costing $93,750 could come next, based on the study results, according to a report by Paul Juarez, the district's energy conservation specialist.

Yorba Linda: A perfect political storm in 2016?

There's little doubt 2016 could be Yorba Linda's most politically contentious year yet, perhaps surpassing the controversy about becoming a city in the 1960s and the ensuing debates about residential densities.

In fact, a “perfect storm” of opposition might be brewing, with disparate groups unhappy with decision-making by the City Council and Yorba Linda Water District joining to support a slate of challengers certain to emerge for five open council and water board positions.

Factor in the automatic anti-incumbent vote that predictably includes from 13 to 17 percent of the electorate, and council and water board office-holders could face tough re-election battles in November. Sign-ups for the positions begin mid-July.

Gene Hernandez and Craig Young are running to return to council seats they won in 2012.

A third slot is held by Mark Schwing, who's not expected to seek a sixth term. Mike Beverage and Ric Collett hold water board seats they first won in 1992 and 2004, respectively.

Protect Our Homes and Hills is a grass-roots citizens organization that's been fighting the 340-home Esperanza Hills and 112-home Cielo Vista developments, both on county land northeast of the city's current boundaries.

The group has filed a lawsuit challenging the adequacy of an environmental impact report and has held two training sessions – a third is slated Sunday – on collecting signatures to overturn council's anticipated action to approve a pre-annexation pact for Esperanza Hills.

The agreement could be on council's Jan. 5 agenda. If adopted then or later, petitioners have 30 days to collect at least 1,939 signatures to either force council to rescind the agreement or schedule an election on the matter.

While the Protect Our Homes and Hills group is not set up to support or endorse candidates, leaders and individual members, who've shown formidable fund-raising prowess, almost certainly would favor challengers for both council and water board seats.

The Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association currently is focusing on overturning a $25 monthly hike in water district fees, but the committee's registration document says it will support or oppose “a variety of candidates in multiple elections.”

Co-founder Jeff Decker lost in the 2014 October recall and November general elections, so expect the group to oppose incumbents this year, with help from leaders of the once-active Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation.

Also possible is an attempt to recall from one to three of the water directors not on the ballot this year, since the taxpayers group hopes a new board majority will review the fee increase.

And expect the county Republican Party to play a big role in supporting Hernandez and Young, as it has in past years, and likely supporting a third candidate and the water directors. Of the city's 40,687 voters and the water district's 47,543 voters, 55 percent are Republicans.