Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustees set criteria for district voting areas for 2018 election ballot

Ten criteria have been adopted to guide the development of five trustee areas to be ready for the election of board members in the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district in November 2018.

Starting with the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, the district's nearly 90,000 registered voters will select one trustee to represent their voting area, rather than voting on each of the trustee positions open on a district-wide, at-large basis.

For example, two trustee positions will be on the 2018 ballot and three on the 2020 ballot,

so only voters in two trustee areas will vote for board members in 2018 and only voters in the three other trustee areas will vote for board members in 2020.

Candidates must reside in the trustee area they seek to represent and only voters residing in each trustee area can vote for a board member to represent the area. Trustee areas must be equal in population, with only a less-than-10 percent deviation allowed under federal law.

Trustee positions on the 2018 ballot are now held by Carrie Buck, elected in 2010, and Karin Freeman, serving since 1989. The 2020 ballot will list slots now held by Judi Carmona, Carol Downey and Eric Padget, serving since 2010, 2000 and 2008, respectively.

Most of the criteria adopted earlier this month by a unanimous board vote for establishing trustee areas contain such language as “insofar as practical,” “to the extent possible,” “as much as possible” and “as possible given the other criteria set forth herein.”

That's because the different standards might conflict with each other. For example, one criterion is trustee areas “shall attempt to avoid head-to head contests” between the incumbents, while another calls for the areas to “respect communities of interests....”

Other criteria include establishing areas of contiguous territory in a compact form, considering jurisdictional boundaries and observing topography and geography, including such man-made features as freeways, highways and major streets.

Another criterion: “area borders shall consider school attendance zone boundaries, with emphasis on having multiple trustees representing each district high school attendance area....”

And most interestingly, “area borders shall consider historic, pre-unification school district boundaries...with emphasis on having multiple trustees representing each of those former boundaries, to respect unification....”

Buck, Carmona, Freeman and Padget live in Yorba Linda and Downey in Placentia. Only trustee from another city was Bob Harkness from Anaheim in the 1960s.

Registered voters for the district's 2016 election included 42,512 in Yorba Linda; 26,646 in Placentia; 10,898 in Anaheim; 6,428 in Fullerton; 644 in Brea; and 2,148 in county territory.

At least two trustee area maps will be posted on the district website Oct. 3. Public hearings on the suggested boundaries will be held at the regular board meetings Oct. 10 and Nov. 7.

First Yorba Linda City Council members reflect on city's initial years in their oral history interviews

My Sept. 8 column – part of an occasional series related to Yorba Linda's 50^th anniversary – recalled that Herb Warren was the only person elected to the first City Council who opposed incorporation, although he later stated that those who supported cityhood were “farsighted.”

Three other members of the city's first governing body elected from a still-record field of 27 candidates also reflected on Yorba Linda's initial years as a city in separate interviews with Dennis Swift for the Cal State Fullerton oral history program in 1988.

Two – Roland Bigonger and Bill Ross – were pleased with the city's evolution during the first 20 years, while the third – Whit Cromwell – expressed reservations about the city's direction.

Bigonger, the top vote-getter in the 1967 election, became the city's first mayor. He was re-elected to a two-year term in 1970 but didn't run in 1972. He won another term in 1986 but lost re-election in 1990.

“I think that Yorba Linda has developed nicely,” Bigonger told Swift. “I think that the first city council intended this kind of development to occur....I think that the General Plan adopted in 1972 set the pattern for development – the large lots we had.”

Bigonger added: “I feel that the city is a good city to live in, and I would probably choose Yorba Linda, if I had to choose a place to live in,” noting, “I am very pleased with the way Yorba Linda has developed.”

Ross was a Yorba Linda Homeowners' Association president who lobbied county officials on zoning and development matters before incorporation. He placed third in the 1967 election, but ironically, the low-density advocate lost when opposed by a slower-growth slate in 1970.

“I think the city as a whole came about and was originally planned for by our early people,” Ross told Swift. “It is just a great place to live and have kids grow. We love it today and we loved it then.”

He added: “Yorba Linda has been very good to me and my six children and our successful real estate office and contracting business. We have been here now for over a quarter of a century – it certainly feels like home.”

Cromwell, as postmaster, wasn't active in the cityhood movement. He ran second in 1967, was re-elected to a two-year term in 1970, sat out 1972, but won a third, final term in 1974.

He also served as a director of the Yorba Linda Water District 1978-1990.

Yorba Linda “did not come out like I wanted it to one-hundred percent,” he told Swift. “I think we completely missed it, because what we did was drive (out) ordinary people....I wanted to see my kids right here, where they had their roots in the ground.”

Cromwell added: “I really wanted to see a little different type of city than what we have,” but he noted, “I am still here, so it must be alright.”

Burt Brooks, the fifth member of the first council, wasn't interviewed for the oral history program. Bigonger died in 1997, Cromwell in 2001 and Ross in 2010.

New Yorba Linda city policy calls for two 'deep dive' audits along with regular financial review

A new policy calling for two “deep dive” special audits as part of Yorba Linda's regular, annual financial review conducted by an outside independent auditing firm has been implemented on a unanimous City Council vote.

Targeted for the special audits are the city's credit card policies, procedures, approvals and charges and the city's surplus property disposal procedures, topics chosen by the city's Finance Committee composed of Mayor Peggy Huang and Councilwoman Beth Haney.

And tentatively designated by the committee for “deep dive” examinations at the end of the current fiscal year are citywide contract administration practices and overtime utilization by city departments.

Topics of proposed special audits for future years include fixed asset inventory procedures and city yard tank fuel usage and accounting from a list developed by city staff. Committee members can suggest other possible topics.

In the credit card review, auditors will examine “current credit card policies and procedures, as well as related forms, and compare them to industry best practices,” according to a report from Finance Director Scott Catlett.

Auditors will review the approval process for credit card charges and “note any identified exceptions to proper approvals or any other issues with the approval process through an examination of a sample of approval transactions,” Catlett stated.

And auditors will examine “a sample of the actual charges made on the cards during last fiscal year to confirm that charges have been consistent with established policies and for appropriate purposes,” Catlett noted.

In regards to surplus property, Catlett noted, auditors will review current practices relative to disposal of property such as vehicles, equipment and furniture and “make recommendations for instituting more formalized procedures consistent with industry best practices,” with auditors reporting on “any concerns identified during their review.”

Findings and recommendations will be provided in a written report to the Finance Committee, which will be forwarded to the council. Estimated cost for each of the special audits is $2,000. Audits will be conducted by the city's contracted firm, Moss, Levy & Hartzheim of Beverly Hills.

The special “deep dive” audits are part of a package of recommendations adopted earlier this year to identify additional ways the committee and council can provide greater oversight for the city's financial management consistent with best practices found at public agencies with strong internal controls, as outlined in my March 10 column.

The primary difference between the city's annual financial audit and internal audits “is the level of focus and details the audits involve,” Catlett explained. The former documents that the city's financial statements fairly present the financial condition of the city, while the latter focuses on specific areas for additional scrutiny.

Yorba Linda's 50th anniversary: Not all of the first City Council members supported incorporation

Interesting to note during Yorba Linda's 50^th anniversary celebration: Not all of the first City Council members were enthusiastic supporters of cityhood.

In fact, Herb Warren, who placed fifth for five council seats out of 27 candidates in 1967, fought incorporation and helped finance activities of a committee opposed to Yorba Linda becoming Orange County's 25th city.

However, Warren soon changed his opinion on the wisdom of incorporation, and in a 1988 interview with Dennis Swift for the Cal State Fullerton oral history program, praised his one-time opponents who supported cityhood as “farsighted.”

Warren singled out George Machado, a member of the first planning commission and second council, as “more objective than some of us who were so close to the forest that we could not see the trees.” Warren also came to support Machado's low-density General Plan from 1971.

Truly, Warren was a man who didn't “hold grudges,” as he told Swift, since Machado formed a slate that ousted Warren and two others from the council in 1970 and opposed Warren's 1974 comeback attempt. Imagine that happening in today's political climate.

Initially, Warren was among the larger landowners and oil men opposed to incorporation. He said they thought “a city would be duplicating Orange County services, which many of us felt were adequate and well served.”

And Warren stated, “We were also thinking that it would cost us extra money and extra taxes, and somebody with 20, 30, 40 acres in Yorba Linda felt that it would impose an undue tax burden on them.” But incorporation won 1,963 to 638, with Warren joining the new council.

“Once the city was formed, I was convinced…(it) would have to impose city taxes and it could not be run without some kind of property tax,” Warren noted. “To our pleasure and pleasant surprise, we found that the opposition in that particular instance was right.”

(After passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, then-City Manager Art Simonian lobbied the state legislature for a law granting the city 10 percent of property taxes collected in the city, now the city's prime income source.)

Warren added: “I have been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the city. I have to hand it to these people that I did oppose. I think that they have done a very good job in planning.”

In addition to three council years, Warren served in other positions, several focusing on farm and agricultural activities and for service groups such as Rotary and Chamber of Commerce.

He was elected to the Yorba Linda elementary school board in the 1950s, served as a Yorba Linda Water Company director before the mutual became a public agency in 1959 and was a North Orange County Community College District trustee before and after his council service.

Warren concluded his 1988 interview by noting, “I expect I will meet my maker right here in Yorba Linda.” He died at age 87 in 2004 after 80 years in Yorba Linda.

Longtime Yorba Linda resident Brett Barbre appointed water district assistant general manager; schools adopt suicide policy

Note: This is the full, original version of a column that had several edits in the print version. 

A couple of interesting actions to report this week: a significant new management hire in the Yorba Linda Water District and a first-ever suicide prevention policy ready for adoption in the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district.

First, Brett Barbre, a 48-year city resident and 20-year representative on the boards of three key water agencies, has been hired as the Yorba Linda district's assistant general manager.

Some residents active in last year's recall of two directors and defeat of a 12-year incumbent criticize Barbre's pay and benefits and what they see as a “conflict” due to his roles with other water agencies. Supporters point to Barbre's extensive knowledge of and experience with water-related issues.

Barbre's annual salary is $165,074, at the mid-point of an 11-step scale adopted at a July board meeting. The range for Barbre's position is $145,092 to $186,767.

The assistant general manager and an accountant position were added to the district's 80-employee payroll for 2018 at a May meeting on a 3-1 vote. Eliminated on the same motion were an office clerk and three conservation positions.

Recently elected directors Brooke Jones, Wayne Miller and Al Nederhood voted in favor, and seven-year director Phil Hawkins was opposed. Andy Hall was absent.

Barbre was elected a Yorba Linda director in 1998. He resigned after being elected in 2000 as one of seven directors for a newly minted Municipal Water District of Orange County for which he represents Yorba Linda and five other cities; his current term ends next year.

Barbre also is one of four Orange County directors on the 38-member Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board, named in 2009. Salary and benefits earned from the two boards totaled $77,010 in 2015-16, according to the municipal board website.

Barbre graduated from Glenknoll Elementary, Bernardo Yorba Middle and Esperanza High and George Fox University in Oregon. He also owns a political strategy and lobbying firm.

Second, a final reading and adoption of the local school district's first-ever suicide prevention policy is scheduled for a Sept. 12 meeting of trustees.

Of course, district employees who interact with students have long been trained to recognize warning signs for suicidal behavior and offer appropriate referrals and assistance.

But now, state law requires educational entities serving seventh through 12^th grade students to adopt a formal policy on suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.

The policy outlines six strategies: staff development, providing risk factor information to parents and promoting a positive school environment to enhance student connectedness.

Others: encouraging students to notify school personnel if they experience thoughts of suicide or have suspicions of another student's suicidal intentions, crisis intervention procedures and counseling for students and staff in the aftermath of a suicide.