June 5 Council Meeting Summary
Editorial staff

The relatively short June 5 council agenda grew into a long meeting. The only consent calendar pulled by a council member was an amendment to the Marguerite Recreation Center (YMCA) regarding a $436,000 increase in funding. Councilwoman Gail Reavis asked at what point the city would be finished with the facility’s renovation of capital improvement projects. City Attorney Bill Curley responded that the original obligation was $1.35 million. The additional $436,000 is needed to finish the pool. The vote was 5-0 for the increase.

The council held a public hearing regarding speed humps on Padilla and Las Nieves and voted 5-0 to follow the planning commission’s recommendation of installing the speed humps. The neighborhood effort to slow down traffic began with a petition in 1995. The area is near Trabuco Hills High School, and neighbors cited school traffic as a primary problem.

Timothy McClarney of True North Research presented a summary of the city’s Community Opinion Survey. While not all residents supported spending $20,000 on the telephone survey, the summary was consistent with the message many people are delivering from the public microphone. According to the survey, residents are highly satisfied living in Mission Viejo. They rate as important a low crime rate, street maintenance, trash collection and emergency services. Fixing traffic problems is a high priority, and adding recreational facilities is a low priority.

The controversial item on June 5 was the audit of taxes collected in the Capistrano Unified School District. CUSD parents and other community members encouraged the audit, asking the amount of tax dollars that have been collected and spent in Mission Viejo through Mello-Roos, the Measure A bond fund and the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The initial discussion took place on April 3 when the vote was 5-0 to approve the audit, although Councilmen Lance MacLean and Frank Ury debated against it. Council members John Paul Ledesma, Gail Reavis and Trish Kelley argued for the audit on April 3.

The June 5 discussion followed same split, with Ledesma, Reavis and Kelley arguing for and MacLean and Ury arguing against. Public comments from residents were in favor of the audit. Ury said, “I’ve asked each council member what we’ll do with the information after receiving it, and I haven’t received an answer.” Reavis said, “If something is amiss, we can turn it over to the Grand Jury and let them decide what to do.”

MacLean said conditions at Newhart Middle School are “pretty darn good,” and he indicated the claims of disrepair and neglect are exaggerated. He said, “This information is being collected at taxpayer expense and used against the trustees in an election year.” He didn’t mention why an audit shouldn’t be conducted during an election year when community members are requesting it on the basis of suspected mismanagement of funds. MacLean indicated the Newhart PTA should pay for the audit, and he said any problems at Newhart resulted from the principal and administrative staff not turning in work orders to the district.

Reavis received applause from the audience when she said she would support the audit because the residents asked for it and it was something the council could do. Councilman Ledesma led each of the motions to approve the audits.

The council voted 5-0 to audit the Redevelopment Agency funds. The audit of Measure A bond money passed 3-2, with Ledesma, Reavis and Kelley for, MacLean and Ury against. The Mello-Roos audit passed 3-2 with Ledesma, Reavis and Kelley for, MacLean and Ury against. The cost of the three audits, $54,185, will come from the General Fund Unappropriated Fund balance.

Despite persistent reference by various council members to the city’s $28 million in reserves, Assistant City Manager Irwin Bornstein made clear that all but $594,000 is appropriated – already obligated for other expenses.