Supervisors Criticized for Lagging on Reform : Government: Citizen activists tell board it is not moving fast enough in cutting costs and restructuring services.

As Orange County struggles to recover from its bankruptcy, citizen activists criticized the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night for continuing the “business-as-usual” practices that they said caused the crisis in the first place.

Critics of county government have been demanding the county downsize, restructure and look for ways to cut costs in the wake of the bankruptcy, and on Tuesday they urged county officials to make greater strides toward change.

Activist Tom Steele said he wants county officials to launch a study scrutinizing the salaries of county employees, who he contended may be overpaid. As an example, Steele claimed the county pays painters’ assistants--not painters, he stressed--$19.22 an hour.

“That’s ridiculous,” Steele said before the meeting, where his concerns were echoed by others. Steele said some conservative think tanks estimate that public employees are paid 20% to 35% more than private-sector employees doing the same job.

The county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6 after a risky county investment strategy with little critical oversight lost $1.7 billion and plunged the county into fiscal crisis. The county recently presented a bankruptcy recovery plan to the state Legislature, asking for its help to divert millions in tax revenue from cities and special districts to help bail out the county.

If successful, the plan could get the county out of bankruptcy by mid-1996, according to the county’s bankruptcy counsel.

But some critics say that has allowed county leaders to avoid restructuring government to make it more efficient.

“The public unrest is still there relative to the bankruptcy,” Steele told the board.

The bankruptcy also may be forcing the county to save money. The board approved a plan Tuesday to move up to $50 million between various county funds to cover temporary shortfalls until property taxes arrive. In the past, the county has turned to short-term borrowing to do that.

“With the county in bankruptcy, our interest rates would be quite high if we can find someone to lend us the money,” interim Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier told the board. If the fund shuffle is a proven money saver, it could become board policy for the future.

In other news Tuesday, the board met in closed session to discuss the search for a permanent chief executive officer.

“The field is being narrowed,” said one county official who declined to discuss details of the closed-door meeting. But Mittermeier, the former airport director lauded for her work on the bankruptcy recovery effort, is said to be the front-runner.

In related developments, Orange County Clerk-Recorder Gary Granville is interested in seeking a governor’s appointment to replace resigning Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez.

Granville is known for putting himself out of jobs. In the past, Granville suggested merging the office of the county clerk with the recorder’s office to eliminate duplication--and his own position. He later won election as county clerk-recorder. Earlier this year, he offered to serve the rest of his term for free if bankruptcy-related budget cuts meant losing clerks that serve the public.

Granville said that if he is appointed, he will not run for election after Vasquez’s term expires in December, 1996, but would serve in a “caretaker” capacity to help lead the county out of bankruptcy.