Restructuring Spreads to O.C. Cities, Agencies

After spending nearly 19 months arguing, threatening and ultimately agreeing on a plan to resolve the Orange County bankruptcy, the county’s more than 100 governing agencies are embarking on an even more contentious issue: how to shrink governments by merging them and consolidating responsibility for overlapping services.

Government restructuring has suddenly emerged as a dominant topic, generating proposals from Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), the California Constitutional Revision Commission, the League of California Cities, a consortium of South County water districts and others.

The Board of Supervisors entered the fray last week when it authorized county Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier to begin talks with the leaders of cities and special districts on ideas for reshuffling the way agencies provide services with an eye on boosting efficiency and cutting costs.

Mittermeier says that the restructuring talks will produce nothing less than “a new vision for Orange County”--and other county leaders share her optimism.

“I think this is going to lead to a good discussion among the agencies over how to provide the best services to our residents,” said Supervisor Don Saltarelli. “That might mean the county could get out of the animal control and library business. And maybe some cities could get out of the police business and use the sheriff. . . . The idea is to save money.”

But other policy makers and elected officials are already expressing doubts about the county’s efforts, and warn that the restructuring effort might not live up to its billing.

“Everyone has a different definition for restructuring. It depends on your outlook,” said Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz. “I’m not sure if the county wants to share services with cities, or dump all the unprofitable ones on us.”

Other city leaders fear that the restructuring process might value dollars over quality services, and end up undermining local control of government operations that many residents demand.

Some also worry about the creation of new regional service agencies that would take advantage of the economies of scale but reduce accessibility to and interaction with the public.

“Residents want to know who they can deal with. People know I’m on the council. They can call me or stop me in the supermarket to talk about their concerns,” said Margie L. Rice, a Westminster councilwoman.

“If you have some regional board, who are you going to talk to?” Rice added. “The people don’t want a big organization.”

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Advocates of restructuring acknowledge that the road ahead is filled with political minefields. But with demands for services increasing and civic coffers shrinking, local governments must consider new ways for providing services and working with other agencies, they said.

“We can’t worry about empire building and all the minutia about whether personality X or Y will buy into it,” said Mary Ann Schulte, chairwoman of a government oversight committee formed by the Board of Supervisors in the wake of the December 1994 bankruptcy. “We are looking at a new structure that will ultimately survive those personalities.”

The eventual scope of restructuring remains unclear because some of the proposals overlap and even contradict one another.

Pringle, for example, is pushing state legislation that would combine the county’s more than 30 water and sanitation districts into several larger agencies. But 22 South County water departments are talking about a different merger plan that would form five agencies in South County alone.

Mittermeier has yet to propose a specific reorganization plan. But she recently outlined a two-year process of inter-government negotiations, public hearings and legislative action that would result in “more accountable local government by reducing the overall number of agencies . . . and by intelligently combining services.”

Schulte’s group, the Government Practices Oversight Committee, has spent the last year examining reform ideas and earlier this month unveiled a series of preliminary findings.

The panel’s report suggests that the county hand over control of several functions, including libraries and animal control, to cities.

Moreover, the group found that the patchwork of county unincorporated areas--with a combined population of more than 300,000--should be absorbed into adjacent cities, or form their own municipalities.

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Such a move makes sense, backers contend, because cities can provide better municipal service, such as zoning and road repairs. Some unincorporated residents have long complained about a lack of attention from county government. Over the last decade, five South County communities opted to form their own cities rather that be governed by officials in Santa Ana.

“It makes no sense for the county to have these [unincorporated] islands,” said Supervisor William G. Steiner. “It results in a duplication of services.”

But not all cities are eager to absorb the unincorporated neighborhoods, which are often in need of major infrastructure improvements, such as sidewalks and gutters. Some city officials see the islands as an economic drain, because most do not contain retail and commercial businesses that generate the sales tax revenue that cities have become so dependent on.

In cases where cities have wanted to annex unincorporated areas, the county traditionally has been reluctant to give up the small tax revenues the areas do generate.

The county’s 27-branch library system is another political hot potato. The system is in the midst of a financial crisis and has seen its operating budget slashed by nearly a third over five years. Branches have cut hours, reduced acquisitions of new materials and raised fees and fines.

Some supervisors have suggested that cities take over the ailing system. But most city officials appear to favor a plan that would give municipalities more control over library operations but keep the system within the county structure.

Local leaders said they would gladly join discussions to make government more efficient but expressed some unease about where the process might eventually lead.

Seal Beach Councilman George Brown said that disbanding the city’s Police Department and relying on the Sheriff’s Department might save money but would probably raise concerns among the city’s crime-conscious residents.

“Our police know the area. People see them on the beat and get to know their personalities,” he said. “The Sheriff’s Department is based way out in Stanton. I don’t think they understand our local problems in the same way the Seal Beach police do.”

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Brown said reformers must also recognize the strides some cities have already made in combining emergency dispatch operations, recycling programs and other services.

“A dialogue is both ways, not just the county telling us what is best for us,” he said.

Schulte agreed that it would be a mistake for one politician or branch of local government to dictate the terms of restructuring. Rather, she said, officials need to balance service quality with cost savings in an atmosphere of cooperation.

“I don’t think anyone is recommending for a moment that these decisions be based strictly on dollars,” Schulte said. “I don’t think any taxpayers are saying that. We have to determine what it is we want to accomplish.”

An early test of whether the various entities can cooperate will present itself in coming months as the county, Orange County Transportation Authority and the Transportation Corridors Agencies decide whether to join a “Council of Governments” proposed by the League of California Cities.

More than 20 cities have already joined the council, which is designed to give Orange County governments a unified voice in Southern California issues such as air quality and state demographic mandates.

Organizers of the council also see it as a forum to discuss government reform, but doubt it will address hot-button countywide issues like jail construction and the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Still, some county officials doubt the need for the council and question whether it would merely be duplicating a regional planning function that county government now handles.

Whatever restructuring plan Orange County eventually develops, Steiner said it should be followed by state and federal reforms.

“Cleaning up organizations makes sense not just at the city and council level but in the state Legislature and U.S. Congress,” he said. “There is dysfunction at all levels of government.”