Yorba Linda City Council members extend influence by serving on county, regional panels

The influence of Yorba Linda's five City Council members extends far beyond city limits through participation on several county and regional bodies with wide-ranging authority.

Since the election of two new council members, the city representatives on these pivotal panels have changed, with new members or alternates appointed to 11 of the 15 boards.

Three of the panels that meet monthly pay per meeting stipends for the members, while the other 12, with meeting schedules ranging from twice yearly to monthly, are unpaid positions.

One key change is on one of two boards providing public oversight for the four toll roads stretching through the county. Peggy Huang replaces Craig Young, who chaired the 15-member panel overseeing the three Foothill/Eastern roads – the 133, 241 and 261. Pay is $120 per meeting.

Unchanged, however, is the city's rep on the county Fire Authority board, Gene Hernandez, the current chair. The panel serves 23 of the county's 34 cities and county territory with 72 fire stations, three in this city. The 25 board members oversee a $323 million operating budget, meet monthly and earn $100 per meeting.

Serving a second two-year term at the county Mosquito and Vector Control District is Huang, one of 35 board members for the 60-year-old agency charged with controlling mosquitoes, rats, flies and Red Imported Fire Ants and providing surveillance for vector-borne diseases.

The district covers the entire county with a $13.5 million budget funded by property taxes and two special assessments. The board meets monthly, with members earning $100 per meeting.

Council members also participate in four organizations that meet monthly to solve common problems, lobby state legislators and other public officials on matters of concern to member cities and seek state and federal funding.

Representatives include Tara Campbell as delegate to the League of California Cities, Orange County Division; Huang as delegate to the Association of California Cities, Orange County; and Hernandez as delegate to the Southern California Association of Governments and the Orange County Council of Governments.

New to the Finance Committee, the council's standing body that meets before regular council meetings to review the city's check register and other fiscally related items before approval by the council, are Huang and Beth Haney, replacing Mark Schwing and Young.

Other appointments: Lindsey to the Trauma Intervention Program advisory committee; Huang as liaison with the Chamber of Commerce; Lindsey and Haney as members of a joint advisory committee with the Yorba Linda Water District; and Haney as liaison with the water board.

More appointments: Lindsey as Santa Ana River Flood Protection Agency delegate; Campbell to a planning forum on north county growth and management; and Hernandez on an oversight board for fiscal matters related to the disbanded Redevelopment Agency.