Yorba Linda signs pact for Orange County Conservation Corps members to aid in vegetation management; OC water district election results

Yorba Linda's City Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the non-profit Orange County Conservation Corps that's estimated to save the city “thousands of dollars” annually by reducing the cost of vegetation management and other landscape-related services.

The corps will provide the services at no cost to the city through a state-funded grant. The agreement runs through December 2025, with extensions possible if state grant funding is renewed. The corps will pay insurance costs and indemnify the city.

City staff members are working with corps officials to identify project areas for corps workers, according to a report prepared for council members by Austin Postovoit, senior management analyst for the city.

Postovoit said corps officials contacted the city last year about corps members working on projects to “support sustainable land management, promote biodiversity protection, habitat restoration and wildfire resilient landscapes.”

Corps members are low-income, at-risk adults ages 18 to 30 in a program designed to build self-sufficiency with employment, training and educational programs, according to a mission statement. Founded in 1993, the corps has provided paid job training for 8,000 members.

According to a 26-page agreement with the city, the corps will provide a full-time crew Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to work on projects involving brush clearing, fire-fuel and open-space management, general landscaping and other similarly scoped tasks.

The work crew, crew member transportation and tools are provided at no cost to the city, but the city is responsible for the disposal of trash and green waste generated by corps projects.

Postovoit's report noted that the Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments, using in-house personnel and outside contracted vendors, share responsibility for all landscape services.

“These divisions collectively ensure maintenance of a robust urban forest (and) hundreds of acres of landscaping, while also overseeing vegetation management for more rural areas in the city,” he said.

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Buena Park resident Roger Yoh won a sixth four-year term on the 10-member Orange County Water District board of directors over Yorba Linda resident Al Nederhood with about 48% of the vote. The district administers the county groundwater basin.

Nederhood, a current director of the seven-member county Municipal Water District board that administers imported water and a past Yorba Linda Water District director, won about 31%. Monique Davis won about 21%.

Nederhood maintains his seat on the municipal board. He was elected to an unexpired two- year term in 2020 and for four years in 2022. Yoh was first elected to the OC board in 2004.

Yoh topped the vote in Yorba Linda, Placentia and La Palma and the portions of Brea, Buena Park and Cypress in his service area.

Yorba Linda: Tree trimming costs, Adventure Playground fee policy, Citizen of the Year

 Yorba Linda's city-owned tree trimming and general maintenance costs, Adventure Playground pricing policies and annual Citizen of the Year selection merit attention this week

Annual cost to trim and otherwise maintain the wide variety of trees long enjoyed by residents on the city's westside parkways, eastside landscape maintenance districts and citywide park sites will be about $1.1 million under a new City Council-approved contract.

Contract terms include tree trimming on a rotating basis, tree removal, stump grinding, palm tree skinning, manual irrigation, tree planting and emergency response for the thousands of city-owned trees.

The three-year, seven month contract was won by Anaheim-based West Coast Arborists over four other bidders, with the highest bid coming in at some $6.4 million for the one year period.

Total cost for the December through June 2028 contract will be a bit over $4 million. The West Coast firm previously won the bid in 2016 and has worked under several extensions. The new contract includes the possibility of two one-year extensions.

Costs will be apportioned to the eastside landscape maintenance district for 75%, the public works department for westside work for 13% and parks and recreation for trees at park sites for 12%.

The city's council-appointed, five-member Parks and Recreation Commission has unanimously voted to not implement fees for use of the popular Adventure Playground “at this time” but has requested that a possible fee structure “be brought back for consideration in the future.”

Parks Superintendent Jeff Ruth told commissioners that potential fee collection could present a number of challenges at the playground which offers such features as a splash pad, waterslide, wiffleball field and zipline next to Hurless Barton Park on Casa Loma Avenue.

Yorba Linda's 21^st Citizen of the Year is Lainie Nicholson, a 14-year resident, who, according to the city, “exemplifies the spirit of service and commitment, making a lasting impact on our community through her tireless efforts.”

Nicholson is active with Yorba Linda Food for Families, Girl Scout and Oak Canyon Nature Center programs, Sunrise Rotary charities and Meals of Love at Ronald McDonald House.Her 49-year involvement with Scouting includes 14 years leading Troop 81 and nine years as director of the Yorba Linda Girl Scout Day Camp, the largest in Orange County.

The Citizen of the Year designation dates back to 2004, when the late Paul Armstrong was named as the first honoree. The choice is made by a five-member committee that includes the mayor and one member appointed from each of the city's four commissions.

The committee makes the selection from nominations made by the community. Nominations are due each September, with the person honored at an October “State of the City” address. The city website has nomination forms.