An article on the front page of the June 14 issue of the Sun is headlined “State nixes splitting large ‘county islands’.”
The article deals with the continuing efforts of the Rossmoor Community Service District Directors to expand their authority into the “latent powers” of police, animal control, and trash collection services.
Residents of Rossmoor have continuously and repeatedly opposed RCSD’s exercise of latent powers for several reasons.
These include, primarily, satisfaction with the services as currently provided by Orange County, and the inevitable added costs that would accompany latent powers.
The RCSD Directors imply that there would be no added costs to the residents of Rossmoor if latent powers are implemented. They also claim that the residents support latent powers.
Their claims are based on a “nonsense question” in a survey that asked residents if they would support latent powers if no added cost were involved. If you believe that, I have a couple of used cars for you to look at.
A peek at a future with latent powers can be seen in the RCSD’s manager’s comment that he would need a year or so to prepare an RFP (Request for Proposal) for trash collection. The city of Los Alamitos recently did just that.
They started by paying a consultant about 80 thousand dollars to prepare the RFP. After a selection process characterized by resident perceptions of contractor favoritism, a contract was awarded. Residents sued several of the council people. The suit was recently settled in secret.
Costs to residents are yet to be determined.
Add in procurement of police service, which is far more complex than trash collection, and animal services, and the potential for wasting of the residents’ money grows exponentially.
Question: Who is going to manage the procurement of our new services?
Answer: Consultants and lawyers, directed by a new set of managers, assistant managers, administrative assistants, and some deputies.
The potential for deterioration of services is not only present, but likely. The RCSD’s propensity for collecting fees for things we are already paying for is a telling portent. If you own a pet, get ready to pay your “fair share” of animal control costs.
There is not a reason in the world for the residents of Rossmoor, who will do the paying, to embark on this process.
The great majority of residents have repeatedly expressed satisfaction with our trash collection, police services, and animal control, as provided by the county. On the other hand, RCSD has managed Rossmoor Park, which the residents are paying for, as a fee-collecting center for organized sports.
As a result, Rossmoor Park neighbors live with weekends of crowded parking spots, noise, and traffic safety problems. Many in the Rossmoor Park neighborhood have expressed their unhappiness with the situation around the park. The new memorandum of understanding with the sports teams does no more than reproduce the problems at Rush Park, and obligate residents for more special treatment of the sports franchises. Resident interests run a distant second, at best.
If the county’s services were un-satisfactory, or costly, the added costs and potential problems of latent powers might be justified. But they’re not.
The RCSD Directors have already spent an unknown amount of the residents’ funds on numerous lawyers and consultants in their latent powers quest.
They could do the residents a big favor by re-focusing on the District’s responsibilities, instead of seeking latent powers.
Ken Brown is a longtime resident of Rossmoor.
