Merger of 2 Imperiled O.C. Panels Urged

County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder has crafted a plan to merge two popular commissions, a controversial move that would save money and preserve one of the panels but would effectively eliminate the Commission on the Status of Women.

The proposal, which enjoys tentative support from a majority of the Board of Supervisors, would join the women’s commission with the Human Relations Commission and would slash their combined budgets by 30% to 50%.

Backers of the Commission on the Status of Women vigorously objected after learning of the proposal Tuesday.

“Merger is elimination,” said Nina Hull, who chairs the commission.

Wieder, however, said the merger is intended to save at least some place in county government for the embattled women’s panel and its counterpart, the Human Relations Commission.

Both commissions have been targeted for elimination as part of a plan to pare the county’s budget deficit, greatly angering supporters and sparking an intense lobbying effort to save the panels.

“If we can’t afford to do everything, let’s save what we can’t afford to lose,” Wieder said. “There are some things that we cannot afford not to do.”

But backers of the Commission on the Status of Women complained that their group would be swallowed up by the larger Human Relations Commission.

“The interests of women will be lost in the gamut of the diverse needs of the Human Relations Commission,” said Bonnie Castrey, a former member of the women’s commission. “It’s tragic.”

Hull agreed.

“What they are doing is bringing in the Dark Ages instead of entering the 1990s,” she said. “The women of Orange County are getting shortchanged.”

Wieder retorted: “She (Hull) is living in never-never land. . . . What choice do we have?”

Axing the two commissions, which was proposed as part of the budget by the county administrative office, would save about $432,000 a year at a time when the county is staggering under a projected shortfall of $67.7 million. Both commissions enjoy strong support, however, and previous recommendations to merge them have met with fierce opposition from backers of the popular, 16-year-old Commission on the Status of Women.

The 11-member Human Relations Commission has a staff of six and a budget of $307,000. It works with local law enforcement agencies, investigates hate crimes and delves into an array of social issues.

The 15-member women’s commission--which has a staff of two and an annual budget of $125,000--examines issues ranging from job discrimination to domestic violence and child care. It also acts as a clearinghouse for women in need.

Wieder has been the board’s strongest supporter of the women’s panel and last year successfully objected to a proposal to merge or eliminate it. This time, Wieder said, the budget deficit makes some action necessary.

During the past several weeks, ever since the commissions were first proposed for elimination, backers of the groups have peppered county supervisors with phone calls and letters. In particular, many have questioned the wisdom of eliminating the Human Relations Commission at a time when the county is battling a spate of hate crimes.

Supporters of the Commission on the Status of Women also have argued that the recession has taken a disproportionate toll on women. They maintain that eliminating the commission could badly hurt the women who rely on its services.

Backers of the two commissions have proposed that their staff budgets each be trimmed by 25%, rather than merging or eliminating the panels.

Wieder, however, rejected that idea as “insignificant” and said much deeper cuts were needed, given the severity of the budget shortfall.

Community Services Agency director William A. Baker, whose office oversees both commissions, conceded that there are some concerns about merging the two panels but said he believes that Wieder’s proposal may be the best option that the commissions can realistically expect.

“We’ve got to try to save what we can,” he said. “I think things are so bad that this may be as good as we can do.”

Although still not in final form, the merger proposal--which would expand the Human Relations Commission to 15 members while cutting its staff budget--already has tentative support from several members of the Board of Supervisors.

“I’m open-minded to discussing a consolidation,” said Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, adding that he has discussed the idea with Wieder. “I have not looked at any kind of a final proposal, but I would not be averse to some kind of consolidation.”

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley agreed. “Some accommodation has to be made,” he said. “I have thought that this was one of the possibilities, and certainly, it’s one that at least seems to me to have some appeal.”

Supervisor Don R. Roth, however, warned that to win his support, any consolidation proposal would need to be accompanied by a plan for paying for the merged commissions. Under Wieder’s proposal, saving the commissions, even as a single, smaller organization, would require the county to spend upwards of $215,000 a year, and that money would need to come from other areas.

“I want to know where the money is coming from,” Roth said. “Is it going to come from another program, or is it going to come from the reserves?”

Wieder countered that the money needed to keep the merged commissions alive would be a small price to pay for maintaining the services they provide.

The merger proposal comes after several discussions between Wieder, Baker and Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Human Relations Commission. But leaders of the Commission on the Status of Women said they were incensed when they were not invited to attend any of the meetings.

“I find it amazing that I was not included in the meetings,” Hull said.

Although she said she was sympathetic to the concerns expressed by supporters of the women’s commission, Jean Forbath, who chairs the Human Relations Commission, said the two panels could work together. The commissions already overlap in a number of areas, she said, as both are concerned with housing, health issues, job discrimination, and police and community relations.

Forbath, who called the merger idea “an acceptable proposal,” added that there is little hope of both commissions emerging unscathed from the current budget reductions.

“We’re down to the crunch,” she said.