City Hall Competes with Businesses

Mission Viejo watchdogs believe a city should maintain local infrastructure and provide core public services such as police protection. Mission Viejo’s bloated City Hall has more than 150 employees. By comparison, Rancho Santa Margarita has fewer than 25 full-time employees. RSM’s population is approximately half of Mission Viejo’s.

The city’s 150 salaries (numerous employees make more than $100,000 annually) are compounded by generous benefits and pensions. Unfunded liabilities for pensions and the retiree insurance program now exceed $11 million. Other negatives include increased competition with the public sector by city staffers. Such non-essential “free” services cost taxpayers and put businesses out of business.

Examples of businesses the city has put out of business include those involved in tutoring, childcare and children’s activities, art and music lessons, entertainment, healthcare, fingerprinting, rental of meeting places, business space (cost of $5/hour for the Potacki Center), a government-subsidized farmers market across the street from Trader Joe’s and Ralphs, and much more. How did these examples become the business of government?

As another example of government interfering with business, the decline of Saddleback Valley News was hastened by City Hall. Ten years ago, Warren Esterline was SVN’s editor – the last one to separate editorial from business interests of the paper. After Esterline retired, City Manager Dennis Wilberg applied pressure to SVN and OC Register administrators, ending investigative reporting and balanced coverage in Mission Viejo. Wilberg also gave SVN a list of his 40 pre-approved shills to provide “positive” opinions from residents.

After an exchange of emails between Wilberg and SVN/OCR officials, letters to the editor ceased except for reprints about national issues published in OCR. City coverage is limited to puff pieces produced by City Hall, and the paper’s mainstay has become foreclosure notices.

The happy talk from City Hall continues, aided and abetted by the very newspaper it is running aground.

Last week, the council majority took a huge hit after attempting to hide millions of dollars in redevelopment money from the state. Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht warned council majority members nearly a year ago that their acts to divert redevelopment money were likely illegal. As usual, the council majority ignored her warnings. Where were OCR’s reporters during the council’s special meeting on Dec. 21 after the state gave the city a deadline of five days to pay up? It wasn’t happy talk, so no one should expect to see it in SVN. The only mention by OCR’s Mission Viejo reporter was a cover-up, calling the meeting an “update on redevelopment.”