Word of the Month is Waste
Staff editorial

Anyone who thinks Mission Viejo’s city government has improved since the 2002 voter revolt probably hasn’t seen its newest money pit: the expanded community and senior center. Tripling its projected cost, the expansion recently topped $15 million, and it’s not finished.

Along with news of the city’s spending spree on the expansion, residents received numerous fancy mailers announcing community events and non-events. The first mailer to arrive, “City of Mission Viejo Annual Report 2007,” looked like a corporate-image brochure with full-page pictures and text suitable for a puff-piece. The second mailer was the spring edition of the Mission Viejo Outlook. A blog reader reacted: “What’s with the plastic-coated paper for a government newsletter? It’s a huge waste of money for junk mail, and employees of the city seem confused about their purpose.”

Anyone who perused the Outlook might have noticed something was amiss – the schedule of recreation classes and other activities had been omitted. To compensate for the lack of useful information in the Outlook, the city sent out a third mailer about programs, plus a completely repetitive rundown of the weeklong city anniversary events.

Each mailer lately has been “branded” with The Mark of the Iron Tree, a staff-chosen clip-art logo promoted by a city administrator. The city staff’s cheesy-looking brand is popping up on every piece of paper, street sign or other taxpayer-funded medium around town.

The city staff’s focus has been the weeklong celebration of Mission Viejo’s 20th anniversary as a city. Those who attended the events or dropped by during the week noticed an absence of community members. Halls of the expanded community center were largely empty during the open house, and the cavernous meeting rooms were filled with rows of chairs but few people.

Taxpayers who toured the expanded center may have been astounded at the frivolous features and attention devoted to expensive detail. Those in city government apparently forgot that the expansion was supposed to respond to the demand for a larger space and more meeting rooms. Unrequested amenities include gardens for reading, furnished outdoor terraces, a great abundance of top-quality cushioned lounge chairs, elaborate playground equipment, decorative walls and water features. The city council approved all the unnecessary and inappropriate expense, almost uniformly with 5-0 votes.

Remarks appearing on other blogs question why the city of Mission Viejo would opt for the highest-quality furniture for the exterior of a public building. Someone charitably said the furnishings would last many years. A resident responded: “Unless paid employees stand guard, most of the outdoor stuff will be stolen long before it wears out. College students throughout Southern California will have apartments furnished with all-weather lounge chairs.”

The community and senior center is a government building, and it should be an example of responsible public spending. The purpose wasn’t to waste as much money as possible on another crown-jewel facility with furnishings reminiscent of former city manager Dan Joseph’s $6,000 desk.

In 2002, Mission Viejo voters removed two spendthrift councilwomen, Susan Withrow and Sherri Butterfield, who became obsessed with creating taxpayer-funded monuments. To the dismay of residents, policies promoted by the old queens continue to this day. Immune to the revolving door of politics, those who remain in city hall are the top-level city administrators who relentlessly sell their unpopular policies and ideas to gullible council members. The city staff continues to prevail over the will of residents who foot the bill. Given the opportunity, voters would have said no to a community center expansion that cost $15 million, but no one asked them.

Council members who approved the change orders and cost overruns for the community center expansion should now stop calling themselves fiscal conservatives.