More El Toro Closures?

If a host of popular services open to the public for the past year at the former El Toro Marine base ends July 2, as some fear, it will be another example of internal bungling similar to the flawed process of trying to build a commercial airport there, according to critics of the planning process.

A county report surfaced last week that showed that services on the base are causing a $623,000 deficit, even though they were intended to make a $500,000 profit. County officials blame the problems on mismanagement by Cabaco, the private company hired in 1997 to handle base operations.

The services include a golf course, which is used by about 100,000 people a year, about 345 horse stalls, thousands of recreational vehicle storage lots, three day-care centers for 125 children, two pools and an officers’ club, which has restaurant and banquet facilities.

Supervisor Tom Wilson said last week that he wants the base kept open and hopes to intervene with the Navy--which has contributed $2 million, a subsidy that will end June 30.

But two other supervisors--one on each side of the airport debate--said they have lost confidence in the county’s ability to manage anything related to El Toro.

“I don’t have any trust at all in the county’s numbers or [its] analyses,” said board Chairman Chuck Smith, an airport supporter. “I certainly hope we can salvage this in time, but based on the performance of the CEO [County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier], I have absolutely no confidence that will occur.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, a longtime airport and Mittermeier critic, said the process of what to do with the base is “being run into the ground.”

“This has become a game of cat and mouse,” Spitzer said. “We chase around the county trying to get information, then we find out that what we’re being told [by staff] is inaccurate.”

Mittermeier repeatedly has declined to respond to comments about her by supervisors.

Meanwhile, the Navy insists that the base cannot stay open to the public unless the state agrees to transfer police powers over the property from the federal government to the county, which isn’t expected to happen any time soon. The Navy also wants the county to complete its environmental review of the airport plan, which is six months behind schedule, according to sources familiar with the timetable.

Only when those approvals occur will Navy officials be ready to sign a master lease allowing the county to take control of the base until the land is conveyed, the Navy says.

State Lands Commission Executive Officer Paul Thayer, whose agency has to approve the transfer of police powers, said commissioners are concerned about toxic cleanup at El Toro. Commissioners asked the county in December to document the cleanup of contaminated areas and how unused military ordnance will be disposed. “We’re still waiting,” Thayer said.

County officials, meanwhile, have stopped all work on El Toro, citing the March 7 voter approval of a measure requiring another public vote before an airport can be built.

Mittermeier set a Wednesday meeting to present options for the base with the Board of Supervisors, including scrapping the airport plan or putting an advisory vote on the airport on the November ballot.

But the most immediate issue is what will happen with current base services, which many believe the county administration would like to dismantle.

A county report issued in March listed eight Cabaco problems over base management, including failure to track whether golfers were civilian or retired military players, and neglecting to call RV owners on a waiting list for storage spaces.

The report also faulted Cabaco for failing to justify two proposed rate increases nixed by Mittermeier, saying the deteriorated condition of the golf course, for example, didn’t justify higher fees.

Cabaco officials declined to comment on the county report. But a source familiar with base programs said county staff long has wanted to close the base completely if there was no chance of flights and thwarted attempts by Cabaco to make changes.

“Anything that doesn’t directly support an airplane landing at this base [has been] considered a waste of time and money,” said the source. “The county [officials] had a one-year reprieve to get their act together and they haven’t. The loser in this is the public.”