A Special Election Preview : South County : Mission Viejo Cityhood Measure Tops the Ballot

The proposed incorporation of Mission Viejo dominates Tuesday’s ballot in south Orange County, but an advisory vote on another proposed incorporation and on school board and water district races will also command voters’ attention.

If Mission Viejo residents decide to incorporate their community of 64,000 by voting for Measure M, it will become the 27th city in the county on March 31, 1988. Irvine became the 26th when it incorporated in 1971.

There is considerable disagreement over Measure M. Cityhood backers believe that incorporation will bring local control of tax dollars and thwart nearby communities’ attempts to annex portions of Mission Viejo.

“If we don’t incorporate, we’ll be part of something else because they will pick us off piece by piece,” said George Kopf of Citizens for Cityhood.

Incorporation opponents fear M’s passage would burden residents with tax increases, new user fees and “an added layer of bureaucracy,” according to Nadine Secarea of the No City Committee. People moved to Mission Viejo to get away from the “divisive politics” of local government, said Val Secarea.

Twelve Mission Viejo residents are on the ballot as city council candidates. If the incorporation measure passes, the five top vote-getters will become the first members of the new council.

In the other incorporation vote, 3,444 registered voters in 13 coastal communities will have the opportunity to speak out on whether they want their areas to be part of a Laguna Niguel incorporation effort or a Dana Point-Capistrano Beach cityhood drive. The vote, which is advisory only, will be considered by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which reviews and recommends incorporation proposals to the Board of Supervisors.

Two south county school districts will conduct elections for board seats.

Two trustees will be chosen in the Laguna Beach Unified School District. One of the two seats was vacated by Harry Bithell, who is retiring after 12 years on the board, and Charlene Ragatz, who is listed as an incumbent on the ballot, was ousted from the other in a special recall election Sept. 22.

Kathleen Jones, assistant vice chancellor of communications at UC Irvine, won Ragatz’s board post in the recall election and is running to retain the office she has held for six weeks. The other candidates are James G. Kreder, a Laguna Beach business owner who sought Ragatz’s seat in the recall election, and Matthew Gorry, an engineer who was involved in the recall effort

against three of the district’s five board members.

In the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, eight candidates are vying for three school board seats.

The two special district races in the south county are in the Santa Margarita Water District, which serves the easterly side of Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza, and Rancho Santa Margarita, and the Los Alisos Water District, which serves El Toro.

Voters in the Three Arch Bay Community Services District will decide whether the district should issue $1.8 million in bonds and levy a special tax to pay for storm drains.

SADDLEBACK VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Governing Board, Elect Three

Sam S. Porter

Cement Contractor Stephen Creighton Pfaff

Businessman-Attorney R. Kent Hann

Incumbent James (Corky) Sebbo

Retired Elementary Principal Louise C. Adler

Incumbent Raghu P. Mathur

Incumbent George W. Carter

Manufacturing Planner Marcia Birch

Parent/Education Volunteer LAGUNA BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Governing Board, Elect Two

Charlene Ragatz

Matthew Gorry

Professional Engineer James G. Kreder

Business Owner Kathleen Jones

Assistant Vice Chancellor SANTA MARGARITA WATER DISTRICT

Dircetor, Elect Two

William F. Krasho

Appointed Incumbent Don B. Schone

Incumbent Raymond F. Melissa

Businessman LOS ALISOS WATER DISTRICT Director, Elect Three

Daniel R. Rainey

Engineering Consultant Jack T. Eagan

Appointed Incumbent Gary D. Cronk

Water Resources Engineer William F. Tritt

Incumbent Sandra G. Bauer

Incumbent Measure A

Shall the mail ballot be used to conduct all future general district elections? MISSION VIEJO CITY COUNCIL

Elect Five

Barry Gilmore

Mission Viejo Businesesman Christian W. Keena

District Director Victoria C. Jaffe

District Director Werner R. Raes

Police Detective Reid D. Steinbauer

Manufacturers Field Representative Bob Silverman

Marshal’s Investigator Gary Michael Tucker

Businessman William S. Craycraft

Business Executive Robert A. Curtis

Independent Businessman/Attorney Norman P. Murray

District Director Robert David Breton

District Director Wanda Driskill

College Professor DANA POINT/LAGUNA NIGUEL MEASURE

Measure H

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission has determined that the residents of the communities of Dana Point and Laguna Niguel shall have the opportunity to vote on whether or not to incorporate as new cities. You will be allowed to vote for or against the incorporation of either Dana Point or Laguna Niguel, but not both. For purposes of the upcoming incorporation election, in which of the two proposed cities do you wish your residence included? MISSION VIEJO MEASURE

Measure M

Shall the order adopted on July 22, 1987, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Orange ordering a reorganization affecting the Mission Viejo Community Services District and providing for the incorporation of the City of Mission Viejo and the merging of the Mission Viejo Community Services District with the new City of Mission Viejo subject to the terms and conditions specified in the order, including the establishment of an appropriations limit for the City of Mission Viejo of $35,000,000 and the continuance as city taxes of the sales and use tax, transient occupancy, the real property transfer tax, and other general taxes presently imposed by the county and using the same manner of collection, be confirmed? THREE ARCH BAY MEASURE

Service District, Bond Issue, Measure P

Shall the Three Arch Bay Community Services District, Community Facilities District No. 1, County of Orange, 1) incur a bonded indebtedness in an amount not to exceed $1.8 million to pay for certain major storm drain facilities, together with appurtenances and appurtenant work, and incidental expenses, and 2) levy a special tax to secure said bonded indebtedness and/or pay for said storm drain facilities?