County’s Newest Cities Officially on Their Own : Municipalities: After a six-month grace period, Lake Forest and Laguna Hills are now fully responsible for providing services for residents.

From police to potholes, the responsibility of caring for about 75,000 people fell fully on the shoulders of Orange County’s newest cities on Wednesday.

Although both Lake Forest and Laguna Hills officially incorporated last December, the state arranges for new municipalities to ease into cityhood by requiring counties to maintain essential services for a six-month grace period.

Lake Forest and Laguna Hills officials say they are more than ready to stand on their own two feet.

“We’re all geared up for taking over,” said Lake Forest Councilman Tim Link. “It’s been a race to get ready. It feels great.”

Looking for local control and local accountability, citizens in both communities approved cityhood in March, 1991. By assuming complete responsibility for city services on Wednesday, the desire for self-determination has been met, city officials said.

“Today I saw a police vehicle bearing the name of Laguna Hills and they were everywhere,” said Laguna Hills Councilman R. Craig Scott. “Our people wanted increased police services and they’re going to see that. It’s a result of people in this city saying: ‘We want autonomy.’ ”

Problems with cracked sidewalks, code enforcement or building permits have been referred to the county for the past six months. That led to some confusion among citizens who figured the newly incorporated cities were equipped to handle all municipal problems from Day One.

But on Wednesday, such duties fell to the new cities. As a result, officials in each town were kept busy fielding calls from citizens full of questions about where they could go with their needs and problems.

“I find you can get an answer or remedy to your problem much faster than going through county channels,” said Jo Ann Burrows, a Lake Forest cityhood supporter who served as a volunteer city clerk for 10 months before incorporation last year. “Becoming a city has brought this community together.

“On Saturday we’ll have our first Fourth of July parade,” she said. “These are activities we’ve never had before and becoming a city has made it happen.”

In Laguna Hills, “if somebody doesn’t like the way a street is striped, we’ve got the means to deal with that immediately,” Scott said. “We can do it on our own and do it more efficiently. We can serve our people better. That’s the bottom line.”

With the shaky economic times, both cities have vowed to be fiscally conservative. Many services, such as police, fire and building inspection have been contracted to consultants.

“We have to watch every dollar,” said Mark Pulone, Lake Forest administrative assistant. “A new city doesn’t have a large general fund to dip into.”

Staffing is still lean for the fledgling cities. Lake Forest has nine employees and will hire only clerical help in coming months. Laguna Hills has hired eight employees and has made room for 12 workers in its budget for the coming year.

The cities will hire outside firms to provide staffing for engineering, building code enforcement and planning needs. The county is being retained for police, fire and public works services.

“We have made an effort to be very cost-effective from the beginning,” said Don White, Laguna Hills director of administrative services. “Contracting is the key. It allows you to control your costs over the long haul.”

Both cities are eyeing the state warily. In the midst of a massive budget shortfall, state officials are considering cuts in revenue traditionally passed on to California cities.

Lake Forest has put its first budget on hold as it waits to see what the state will do, Pulone said. Laguna Hills passed its budget on June 9, but has contingency plans in place to deal with any state revenue cuts.

With the yoke of cityhood now resting squarely on their shoulders, officials from the new communities are confident they are prepared for what lies ahead.

“It dawned on me last week that (Wednesday) was the big day,” White said. “I thought it would be eventful, but it hasn’t turned out that way because everything has been done. We’re ready to go.”