Large number seek vacant Yorba Linda City Council seat; Little Free Library opens at Jessamyn West Park

 

The large number of residents who applied for a vacant seat on the Yorba Linda City Council this month contrasts sharply with the small fields of candidates who have run for the positions in the most recent November general elections.

Nineteen residents submitted applications for the seat left by Gene Hernandez, who was appointed director for the Yorba Linda Water District, and 17 showed up for interviews by council members Tara Campbell, Beth Haney, Janice Lim and Carlos Rodriguez.

By contrast, only three residents campaigned for two council seats in 2018, nobody filed to run against three incumbents in 2020 and again just three candidates sought two positions in 2022.

The dearth of candidates in the last three election cycles also contrasts with larger fields in earlier elections. The city's first council ballot in 1967 listed 27 candidates for the five seats, and the second council election in 1970 featured 18 candidates, again for all five seats.

One major factor for residents seeking an appointment rather than running for office is the high cost of mounting a campaign, with recent winners spending from $30,000 to $70,000 to win a four-year term, some cash raised from contributions and some from self-made loans.

Another factor is an expected vote in November to rezone land to meet a state mandate to provide opportunities for 2,415 new housing units through 2029 or face penalties. Nearly all applicants stated they wanted to work on this major challenge to the city's future.

And interestingly, several of the applicants said they wouldn't run for a full term in November.

Peggy Huang, who won the appointment, is the second member to be appointed to a seat outside of an election cycle, following Gene Wisner, appointed in 1983. And she's the third member to rejoin the council after an absence, following Hank Wedaa and Mark Schwing.

Huang previously served for two terms, placing first in both the 2014 and 2018 elections for two seats. She could seek a full third term in November under the city's three-term limit law.

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The Little Free Library at Jessamyn West Park is now open for business, according to Kathi Angus, chair of the Woman's Club's Little Library Committee. It's located 20 yards down the main path from the parking lot between the basketball court and softball field.

The Girl Scout-built, city-installed box at 19115 E. Yorba Linda Blvd. is currently stocked with children's books and novels. Angus said, “I'll definitely look for some of West's books to add.”

Among the Woman's Club's many activities is support for the 11^th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton, which has been adopted by the City Council to create community support for local Marines, sailors and their families.

Bill Scarberry, the Adoption Committee's community outreach director, invites residents to learn more by visiting the group's website, yorbalinda11thMEU.org.

Democratic, Republican central committees make endorsements for non-partisan city council, school trustee, water director positions

 Members of the county's Democratic and Republican central committees to be elected in the upcoming March 5 primary play a significant role in who will win the non-partisan city council, school trustee and water director positions in the Nov. 5 general election.

That's because the two central committees have a procedure to endorse contenders for non-partisan offices, and candidates who earn endorsements have an advantage over opponents, since they campaign with support from the official Democratic or Republican parties.

Countywide this year, 68 candidates are seeking the 42 elected positions on the Democratic Central Committee, and 93 candidates are seeking the same number of elected positions on the Republican Central Committee.

Six members are selected for the two panels from each of the seven state Assembly districts that include all or parts of Orange County. The bodies also include ex-officio members, usually current or past partisan office-holders.

Yorba Linda is in the 59^th Assembly District that also includes all or portions of Anaheim Hills, Brea, Fullerton, North Tustin, Orange, Placentia and Villa Park. In 2020, Yorba Linda was in the 55^th district with Brea, La Habra and Placentia.

This year, the 59^th district has the largest number of candidates running for the six positions – 23, with the other six districts having a range of seven through 18 candidates. The 23 include six candidates who represent Yorba Linda in other elective offices.

They include council members Beth Haney and Janice Lim, water district director Gene Hernandez, Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustee Leandra Blades, North Orange County Community College trustee Ryan Bent and county Supervisor Don Wagner.

(Hernandez is identified on the ballot as mayor, the office he held at the filing deadline.)

Yorba Linda is an example of the power of endorsements from the Republican committee. In the past two election cycles, all but one of the winning candidates were endosed by the GOP party organization in contests involving the council, school district and water board.

In 2022, council candidates Carlos Rodriguez and Janice Lim; water director candidates Phil Hawkins, Tom Lindsey and Brett Barbre; and school trustee candidate Todd Frazier won their contests, with each touting endorsements they received from the county Republican Party.

Area 5 school trustee candidate Carrie Buck won without the GOP endorsement, but she lost the Yorba Linda vote to GOP-endorsed Richard Ingle. Her win was due to the Placentia vote.

In 2020, nobody ran against the three Republican council incumbents (Tara Campbell, Beth Haney and Gene Hernandez) and the two water board candidates (Trudi DesRoches and J. Wayne Miller), partly because all five were expected to earn the Republican endorsements.

And three new GOP-endorsed school trustees (Marilyn Anderson, Leandra Blades and Shawn Youngblood) won from a field of 10 candidates.

Yorba Linda Water Directors often appointed to positions

 Eleven-year Yorba Linda City Councilman Gene Hernandez, who was chosen from three applicants for a coveted governing board position at the Yorba Linda Water District, is the third former council member to serve on the five-member panel.

Hernandez joins past eight-year council member Tom Lindsey as a director. Lindsey was appointed to the body in 2021 and elected to a four-year term in 2022. A former one-term council member, Mike Beverage, served as a director for 24 years beginning in 1992.

Three other former council members, 30-year veteran Hank Wedaa, 20-year member Mark Schwing and eight-year member Barbara Kiley, sought director positions but were defeated by incumbents, Wedaa in 2000, Schwing in 2004 and Kiley in 2018.

And eight-year council member Peggy Huang, who ran for a Congressional seat in 2020 and a Superior Court judgeship in 2022, was one of the three applicants for this year's open position.

Interestingly, the Hernandez and Lindsey appointments were made to fill seats vacated by the winning candidates in the district's most contentious election in 2016, when voters removed three incumbents from office, two by lopsided recall votes and a third who lost a fourth term.

Hernandez replaces J. Wayne Miller, who won the full four-year term in 2016, and Lindsey replaced Al Nederhood, who won a two-year term in the recall and resigned after his 2020 election to the county Municipal Water District.

The other recall winner, Brooke Jones, lost his seat in 2022 to Brett Barbre, who had served two years on the local board before his election to the county district in 2000. He also served the local district as assistant general manager and general manager until his 2022 resignation.

Four of the five currently serving directors were appointed to office. In addition to Hernandez and Lindsey, Phil Hawkins was appointed in February 2010 prior to his election in November.

Trudi DesRoches was appointed to office in 2020 because she was one of only two candi-dates who filed to run for two open seats that year. She is the first woman to serve on the board since the mutual company was founded in 1909 and became a public agency in 1959.

Except for a brief period in 2015-16, when drought restrictions and water pricing led to the recall, district elections were pretty tame. Prior to 2020, eight elections had been cancelled because only the incumbents filed to run (1969, 1979, 1988, 1994, 1996, 2006, 2012; 2014).

The seats now held by DesRoches and Hernandez are scheduled for the November general election ballot. Term limits don't apply to board positions, and six of the 24 past directors had served more than 20 years.

The directors oversee a district with 25,497 water connections (21,754 in Yorba Linda;2,543 in Placentia; 330 in Anaheim; 67 in Brea; and 803 in county territory) and 24,699 sewer connections (21,533 in Yorba Linda; 1,218 in Placentia; and 1,948 in county territory).