NOTEBOOK : Irvine’s Image Is Suffering but Not Garden Grove’s

New respect: The financial crisis has gone a long way to change the images of some Orange County cities.

Irvine--long considered a model municipality with safe streets and outstanding schools--now faces huge losses because of its investments in the county pool. The Irvine Unified School District is also suffering from the crisis.

Conceded one top Irvine official this week: “People are wondering if Irvine is still No. 1.”

None of that soul-searching exists in Garden Grove, one of the few cities that did not invest in the pool. Now, the city is getting new-found respect.

“I’m not going to make any Garden Grove jokes for a long, long time,” said Fullerton Councilman Chris Norby.

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Slow-news days: City and school district officials say that one of the most difficult parts of the financial crisis is the lack of solid information about the latest developments in the bankruptcy.

Lee Risner, La Habra’s city manager, has a case in point. On Wednesday at 2:20 p.m., he received a faxed news release from Supervisor Roger R. Stanton’s office. The release, written by a public relations firm, was dated Dec. 16--five days earlier.

“And that’s fax,” he mused. “Let’s not talk about the inefficiencies of the U.S. Postal Service. They probably could have done it faster by Pony Express!”

Added Risner: “The press releases we’re receiving from (the county’s) public relations firm usually contain data that we read in the newspapers one to three days before.”

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Pleasing procrastination: People who dumped their tax payments in the mail at the last minute have become heroes to some cash-strapped city officials.

That’s because all property tax payments received by the county before the Dec. 6 bankruptcy filing were frozen in the pool and won’t be distributed to cities. The tax deadline was Dec. 12.

“I’m sure all the people in Tustin were prudent and didn’t pay until” the last minute, quipped Tustin Councilman Michael J. Doyle.

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Parks feel the pinch: As a cost-savings measure forced by the bond crisis, most county regional park facilities will be closed the next two Mondays for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

User permits and group reservations have been canceled for those two dates. Organizations hosting day-camp activities, sporting events or other activities should contact park offices about rescheduling.

Both of the county’s camping parks, Ronald W. Caspers and O’Neill regional parks, will remain open Dec. 26 and Jan. 2.

Additional information is available from county parks officials at (714) 834-6667 or (714) 771-6731.

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They’ll be back: In Sacramento, state Auditor General Kurt R. Sjoberg announced Thursday that a preliminary report on the Orange County situation--expected to be released today--will be delayed until after the holidays.

Sjoberg said his team of five auditors, who met in Sacramento on Thursday after two weeks in Orange County surveying the fiscal landscape, determined there were “too many loose ends” left to be tied up before a report could be produced.

The team is expected to return to Orange County after New Year’s Day and produce a report by the second week in January, Sjoberg said. The analysis will provide a “second opinion or some comfort” on cash flow and other issues as the county liquidates its failed investment portfolio, he said.

Sjoberg added that he doesn’t feel the delay will hold up the county’s efforts as it attempts to recover from the investment crisis. “I don’t think that their own numbers are yet complete,” he said. “Obviously if that’s not complete, they’re not going to be able to go forward.”

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Bowing out: San Clemente City Treasurer Kenneth E. Carr sent out a news release Thursday announcing he would not seek reelection when his term expires in November, 1996. But he said the decision had nothing to do with the county financial crisis or San Clemente’s $34-million investment in the troubled pool.

Carr said he made the decision shortly before the county’s $2-billion losses were announced this month.

“While recognizing and accepting my responsibilities for city participation in the . . . (pool), I plan to devote my immediate energies and experiences to ensure that the financial interests of all San Clemente residents are enhanced in the future.”

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Take my treasurer, please: Waving his latest canceled property tax check made out to former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, Laguna Niguel City Councilman Eddie Rose half-jokingly told the council this week: “We used to call Citron ‘Sweet Old Bob.’ Now we just use the initials.”

The remark brought some wry smiles to the faces of council members and city staff, but no one laughed aloud.