Young Cities Offer Tips to County’s Newest : Government: Dana Point and Mission Viejo officials advise their Laguna Niguel counterparts to hire a good city manager and a good city attorney--and to ‘stay in touch’ with the people.

What advice do you give a newborn city?

Judy Curreri, who became Dana Point’s first mayor when her community became a city about 11 months ago, said that “staying in touch” is among her prime recommendations for future council members in Laguna Niguel, which will become the county’s 29th city Dec. 1.

“It becomes harder and harder, after you’ve become a city, for the council members to get out among the people and find out what they’re saying and what they want,” Curreri said. “But it’s so important. I’ve even changed my grocery-shopping habits so I can see people. I shop two or three times a week now, just so I can run into more people.”

Curreri was among officials from Dana Point and Mission Viejo who, in interviews, provided pointers that could be useful to the new city. Mission Viejo became a new city in March, 1988; Dana Point’s cityhood became effective Jan. 1.

“It’s a short transition time,” Curreri said regarding Laguna Niguel, where voters approved cityhood in a landslide last Tuesday.

“In Dana Point,” she said, “we had six months to make the change to cityhood, and we still found ourselves pretty rushed. So one of my recommendations to Laguna Niguel would be to make very good use of that transition time.”

Mission Viejo City Councilman Christian W. Keena said the main thing is to “pick a very good city manager and a very good city attorney, because they set the tone for your new city.

“Those two individuals, and their experience and their knowledge of municipal government, will either be a hindrance or a help. So their selections become the two most important decisions a new city makes.”

Mission Viejo Mayor William S. Craycraft concurred: “We were extremely fortunate to have an experienced city manager who knew exactly what to do as far as recruiting staff and getting the city off the ground. That’s crucial. It’s of paramount importance to hire a top-notch city manager and hit the ground running.”

Craycraft also advised Laguna Niguel council members to “hire competent department heads” and “keep politicking out of city business.”

They should also be prepared for an avalanche of homework, he added: “I found it startling. There’s a tremendous amount of data to review and digest.”

Laguna Niguel should also make it a priority “to retain control over future development and to preserve the charm and beauty of their unique community,” Mission Viejo City Councilman Robert A. Curtis said.

Laguna Niguel council members should also determine as soon as possible the city’s needs for sewers, roads, civic buildings, parks, schools and other infrastructure, based on future growth projections, he said.

Along the same lines, Dana Point’s assistant city manager, John Donlevy, advised: “The first thing they need to do is to get a financial consultant. The second thing would be to retain an engineering firm to take inventory of the streets, sidewalks and medians. . . . They’ll also need to set up departments. They’ll also have to start appointing commissions.”

Beyond that, he said, the new City Council will need to consult with the county over essential community services being provided by county government.

“They’re going to have to get in and work really closely with the county right off the bat,” Donlevy said.

While talking recently with an employee of the Laguna Niguel Community Services District, which will become part of the new city government, Donlevy said he told her, “Look out, because here it comes,” referring to the onslaught of new-city problems and decisions.

Despite the problems, all who were interviewed about their own recent cityhood experiences agreed that the effort is well worth it.

Forming a city gets people in a community closer to their government, Mission Viejo’s Keena said.

“It’s still the best and most responsive to the needs,” he said. “It gives the residents a way to communicate more closely with their local government. . . . It works.”

Wendy Paulson and Frank Messina contributed to this story.