Government Group Gets Boost From City

Huntington Beach this week became the 22nd city to join a fledgling countywide group to deal with regional issues, giving the Orange County Council of Governments the numbers it needs to proceed.

The City Council approved a joint-powers agreement to participate in the group.

A majority, or at least 16 Orange County cities representing a total of 1.3 million residents, which is half of the county’s population, had been required for the group to form, said Janet Huston, executive director of the Orange County division of the League of California Cities.

Huston said Huntington Beach “put us over the top” to meet the criteria.

In the next month, Huston said, she expects other Orange County cities to join, along with special districts and government agencies such as the Orange County Transportation Authority and Orange County Sanitation Districts.

“Our hope is for 100% participation,” she said.

Huston said there are 25 councils of governments statewide, but the Orange County group will be the first one to invite the private sector to join. There is no cost to participate, she said.

The goal is to unify Orange County cities and other agencies to share resources and work together on issues such as mandates from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Huston said.

Richard Barnard, deputy city administrator for Huntington Beach, said the group “creates this forum where regional issues can be addressed. We’ve never had that before.

“Now we’ll have one entity all working on those regional issues to strengthen Orange County’s voice in the larger Southern California region.”