Yorba Linda City Council members list campaign income, donors; updates to previous columns

Twice each year Yorba Linda's City Council members with open campaign committees are required by state law to file financial documents that report income, expenses and loans to their election treasuries.

Usually, in a year without a ballot, these reports have few entries. But for 2017, Mayor Peggy Huang is off to an early start in an expected run for a second council term in November 2018, already collecting close to half of the dollars she spent in her 2014 win.

Huang raised $16,743 in the first six months of this year, according to her July 31 filing. Tom Lindsey, whose second term expires next year, wasn't required to file because he closed his committee in 2015, even though he's eligible for a third term.

Tara Campbell and Beth Haney, who won first terms last year, reported $1,672 and $152 balances, respectively, in their accounts, with outstanding self-made loans of $5,000 and $37,170. Gene Hernandez, elected to a second term last year, reported $7,357 cash and no debt.

Huang reported her cash came from seven contributors with Yorba Linda addresses and 25 with out-of-town addresses. She noted $5,236 in outstanding self-made loans.

The political action committee Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, active since 2005, closed shop this year, as did Craig Young, who lost his re-election race last year.

Updates to past columns:

--My Aug. 11 column citing Gina Aguilar and Olivia Yaung as the first female principals at Esperanza and Valencia high schools, respectively, noted that previously only El Dorado High School had female principals – Karen Wilkins and Carey Cecil – in the local district.

But last week, a number of El Dorado alumni and staff reminded me trailblazer Joann Ball was the district's first female high school principal, serving as Hawk leader 1991-94.

--My July 28 column noted local school district trustees approved the “intent” to elect board members by voting areas in 2018 rather than the current at-large system, partly to avert an expensive legal challenge possible under the state's 2001 Voting Rights Act.

Last week trustees hired a company to provide technical support to develop a database to be used for map design, as the district draws trustee area boundaries for board and public study.

--My July 14 column on the city's two-year budget cited a general fund subsidy for some local landscape zones as $987,000 in 2018-19, down from $1.2 million last year. The number also includes arterial landscape, lighting and traffic signal zones and landscape transition subsidies.

--My July 7 column outlined several changes to city regulations related to temporary signs in public rights-of-way, including simplifying the procedure for the city to remove illegal signage.

Community Preservation Officers have started working weekends to enforce the new rules, and the council will further review real estate and development signage at a future meeting.