Good Questions About Parks

Residents who use Orange County’s parks, and the elected officials responsible for those parks, have been asking good questions about a proposed reorganization of county government.

The plan calls for folding parks and beaches into an agency that also would be responsible for flood control and other public works projects. The reasonable concern is that public works will get priority while parks will slide toward the bottom of the list.

A major reason for the good quality of life in Orange County is the wide expanses of beaches and parks. They have to be maintained in first-rate condition and accessible to all.

A key piece of the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan was the diversion from the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department of $80 million over 20 years. That money could have been spent to spruce up existing facilities and perhaps to expand them. Unfortunately, now it will be a battle to preserve the status quo.

For about a decade, the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department has been a separate division within the Environmental Management Agency. County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier earlier this year proposed doing away with EMA and transferring its functions into two new departments: public works and planning and development.

The proposal ought to be seriously considered, especially in light of the bankruptcy and claims that the reorganization will help produce a leaner and more cost effective government. But the supervisors gave preliminary approval to the proposal a day after it was suggested. Questions that should have been asked then are being asked now.

At least two supervisors have expressed doubt about the wisdom of scrapping Harbors, Beaches and Parks. So has the commission appointed by the supervisors to set policy for the department. Their views deserve a close hearing.

Also worth remembering is Tulare County’s experience in putting its parks department into an agency that included public works and planning a decade ago. Last year officials there decided that parks are in a different category and should be in an independent department.

In Orange County, Harbors, Beaches and Parks oversees more than 30 facilities, including historical sites. The department has done a good job of accepting volunteer help. It will lean on volunteers even more due to the bankruptcy-spawned loss of funds.

It may be that combining public works with harbors and beaches saves money and is not detrimental to either department. But great care will have to be taken when dealing with divisions whose work is so obvious to residents and so important to their feelings why this is a good place in which to live.