South County : Mission Viejo Voters to Decide on District

Voters in the unincorporated community of Mission Viejo must decide whether to create a local governmental body--called a community services district--to take over landscaping, maintenance and lighting services that up until now have been provided by the county.

Earlier this year the Board of Supervisors voted to redirect into countywide services about $3.3 million of property tax funds that were being spent on unincorporated communities. Nearly half of that money was going to Mission Viejo. By forming a community services district, Mission Viejo would continue to receive the funds--this year about $1.5 million--it would otherwise lose, and would take over the administration of some services. Proponents of the measure say this would afford residents more “home rule,” and some say it is the community’s first step toward cityhood. There is no organized opposition to the measure, but some residents have voiced concern that a new district may not be able to provide services as cheaply or as efficiently as the county.

South County’s two school districts have races that hinge on school-religion issues.

The five-member Saddleback Valley Unified School District Board of Education last January refused to change its policy of banning religious clubs from using campus facilities during the school day. Incumbents Dore John Gilbert and Kristine Kister face a total of six opponents, including two candidates who have the backing of fundamentalist Christian groups, Richard Neuland and H.A. Beaubier. A former district superintendent, Richard Welte, is also running. The remaining three candidates are Bill Harris, George Carter and William Kohler.

In the Capistrano Unified School District, Board of Trustees President Paul Haseman and two other incumbents, Jan Overton and Annette Gude, are up for reelection. The seven-member board voted in December against allowing religious groups to meet on campus during school hours, and in May it unanimously adopted the Family Life curriculum, which includes some sex education materials. Haseman’s opponent, mortgage banker Victor Domines, and Gude’s opponent, real estate investor Carol Cox, have made “traditional values”--terms often used by fundamentalist groups--a theme of their campaigns, as has Winston Lyle Frost, Jan Overton’s chief opposition. David Colville, Cindi Waters and James Long are also running against Overton. Frost and Haseman have the endorsement of the Capistrano Unified Educational Assn. The teachers’ union did not endorse a candidate in the third race.

Saddleback Community College District in south Orange County has a heated election for three of the seven seats on the Board of Trustees. Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Irvine Valley College in Irvine are governed by the district. The Saddleback and Irvine Valley teachers’ union for the last two years has been demanding that the incumbent board fire Chancellor Larry Stevens.

In the race for trustees for the Santa Ana Mountains County Water District, which provides water and sewer services to the Trabuco Canyon and Robinson Ranch areas, three incumbents seek reelection against two challengers. The area served by the district is experiencing more tract home development, and some residents are concerned about the environmental impact of the new development.