MISSION VIEGO : Outgoing Mayor Decries Conflict

Decrying the divisiveness that has split the City Council, outgoing Mayor Christian W. Keena warned Tuesday that continuing “political conflict will produce little good for the city.”

“We have learned that the failure to compromise has a great cost,” Keena said in a prepared farewell State of the City report. “I shudder to read of political battles brewing in our city and those in neighboring cities. . . . Conflict distracts leaders from their collective objectives and depletes the city of its spirit.”

The conflict on the council peaked earlier this year when some council members supported a recall effort against Councilman Robert A. Curtis. The failed effort was heavily financed by the Mission Viejo Co. and other developers.

Some political observers here attributed Keena’s decision not to seek reelection to the fact that he would have been targeted for defeat by Curtis’ allies. Keena, however, has insisted that after seven years in Mission Viejo politics, he wanted to devote more attention to his law practice “and volunteer for a good community cause.”

Alluding to the bickering on the council, Keena said: “As I see it, the root of the problem has been a fundamental disagreement on the level of politics that is appropriate for Mission Viejo. . . . We have learned that the failure to compromise has a great cost; that before we disrupt city business to win on a point we should always consider the cost.”

Keena declared that “Mission Viejo’s financial affairs are in order.” The city has an estimated $2-million surplus in the current fiscal year and more than $20 million in reserves.

Keena cited the acquisition of a building to serve as City Hall as a “historic milestone.” The purchase will save the city $400,000 annually, he said.

The city staff is scheduled to occupy the new offices by next April. But the issue of the new City Hall became a campaign issue, and Curtis has said that he and other council members are likely to reverse the decision to occupy the building.

Keena also said the city had worked to make Mission Viejo safer for residents. During the last year, residential burglaries have decreased by 11%, commercial burglaries by 17% and traffic accidents by 1%, while drunk-driving arrests have increased by 24%, he said.

Keena called on South County cities to set up a regional detention center to improve police services in the area. “Every time a deputy makes an arrest the suspect has to be transported to the County Jail in Santa Ana,” he said. “The time it takes to transport and book suspects reduces the number of hours deputies are on patrol.”

The outgoing mayor warned cities to resist attempts by state and county government to pass on “to cities the costs of traditionally non-city services.”

Keena called on the new council to “lead Mission Viejo from a past of promises to a bright new future full of promise.”