Examining the Rose Institute Report

Your editorial, “O.C. Should Heed Some Timely Advice,” (May 14) is heartening in that it reflects that “someone is finally listening.” In 1993, as then the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, I invited the business community, cities and academia represented by Partnership 2010 to explore whether taxpayers were getting the best value for their services and whether the multiplicity of governmental jurisdictions was efficient. And necessary. Partnership 2010’s President Tim Cooley accepted the challenge and Project HI-GEAR (Government Efficiency and Restructuring) was established. We solicited RFPs (request for proposals) and selected the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna Colleges. This was possible because of the cooperation of the cities, county and the private sector--Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Co., Fluor Corp. and Pacific Telephone.

GEAR’s mission is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of governments in Orange County by helping our elected and appointed officials: identify and share best practices; eliminate unnecessary, redundant or overlapping responsibilities, and to maximize governmental accountability to voters, taxpayers and service users.

This information was made available to Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez in December, 1994, before I left office. To this day [he] has chosen to ignore it in spite of the fact that he had voted to allocate $10,000 toward the Rose Institute’s contract. This same information and a draft of the Rose Institute’s report was also made available to the acting CEO, William J.Popejoy.

The Rose Institute report, under the leadership of Alan Heslop, is a veritable objective analysis of what has been wrong with the antiquated process and methods in which governments function and should serve as a valuable reference for all the restructuring committees that will be reinventing the wheel.

This report’s time has come and maybe there will now be those who should be listening.

HARRIETT M. WIEDER

Former Orange County supervisor

* A brief review of the draft Rose Institute report (“County Failed to Control Costs, Report Says,” May 2) causes me to question the qualifications, motivations and understanding with respect to special districts of those preparing the report.

How can an academic institution conduct a major study on government efficiency in Orange County for $30,000? The study seems to draw on previous work that was heavily criticized for being incomplete and lacking good methodology.

The author reaches conclusions without basis of supporting information or facts. I would challenge the Rose Institute to provide any basis for its conclusions regarding alleged benefits associated with privatizing water and sewer agencies. Extensive study regarding the Cal-American proposal to privatize the Santa Margarita Water District finds that it is not feasible for private utilities to compete with public agencies, as the former must pay income and property taxes, in addition to earning a profit.

Typical of any previous experience with the Rose Institute, those preparing the study are not willing to work with the affected agencies to develop valid data bases for conducting a credible study. They hasten to use “per capita costs” which include significant problems and certainly are not an effective measure of government efficiency. When challenged, the usual response from the institute is, “We will include your numbers, but we don’t expect that our recommendations will change.”

Given the potential damage that this poorly prepared report could cause for special districts, I respectfully request to be included in the full review of the draft report.

BOB HANSON

President, Independent Special

Districts of Orange County