A Devolutionary Idea for O.C. Government : Recovery: Bergeson’s plan calls for elected ‘mayor’ and the turning over of most functions to state or cities.

SANTA ANA —  In one of the most radical ideas yet to emerge from Orange County’s crisis, Supervisor Marian Bergeson on Wednesday offered a new vision of county government that would abolish her own job, place key financial functions in the hands of the state, and give an elected “mayor” control of criminal justice, health care and transportation.

Other services now handled by the county bureaucracy would become the responsibility of local cities, and all unincorporated areas would have to merge with or become cities by 1997.

Bergeson’s staff estimates the plan could save more than $140 million a year, and has dubbed the proposal “Orange County--2001.”

“We have got to start redesigning the structure in which local government functions, make it more accountable and more relevant,” said Bergeson, who joined the Board of Supervisors in January after 16 years in the state Legislature.

“It’s time to do some thinking about really what we can do to make the system work better,” she said. “Probably the bankruptcy and the attention on government services presents a very good time for us to really look at priorities and to decide how Orange County is going forward in all this.”

Talk of government restructuring has been widespread since the stunning $1.7-billion plunge in the county-run investment pool sent Orange County to federal Bankruptcy Court on Dec. 6. Scores of proposals to privatize individual services are floating around the Hall of Administration, and a bill pending in the state Legislature would turn over virtually all of the Board of Supervisors’ responsibility to a state trustee.

Long an advocate of government reform, Bergeson began putting her restructuring plan to paper last week as the scope of massive budget cuts forced by the county’s financial disaster became clear. The supervisors approved a budget Thursday that hacks the county general fund almost in half and slims the work force by about 12%.

Bergeson has not yet offered her germinating idea as a formal proposal to her colleagues on the board or to state officials, though it would likely require a state constitutional amendment before it could be implemented.

According to a first glimpse of the proposal, the county’s embattled Board of Supervisors would be replaced by an appointed, part-time “Orange Regional Services Authority,” similar in function to a city council. The supervisors’ powers and the administrative responsibility of the current chief executive officer would be given to a mayor elected countywide to a four-year term.

The authority would run programs and services required and funded by the state, such as criminal prosecution and punishment, health care, social services, flood control, parks, trash, water and transportation.

The county’s 31 cities--plus the yet-to-be incorporated Aliso Viejo and Foothill-Rancho Santa Margarita--would take over all police functions as well as responsibility for planning, housing and libraries. The state would run the county treasury and investment operations and take back responsibility for elections, education, courts and taxes from the county.

“It’s just saying, look, if we had a clean slate for governments, what would be the best way of filling it up, regardless of the power-structure,” said Bergeson’s executive assistant David Kiff, who drafted the preliminary flow-chart outlining the idea.

“The county structures have changed very dramatically since counties were put in place and boards of supervisors were put in place,” Kiff said. “It’s a chance to say what we really want counties to do.”

Irvine City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr., president of the county’s city managers association, said experts have been questioning the role of county government in urban areas such as Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties for more than a decade.

“There’s a lot of prudence. It makes a lot of sense. We feel strongly that we need to get back to local cities, those that are closest to the people, doing the things that are local,” Brady said. “There’s no question, there’s a lot of duplication of costs and personnel. It’s become too complicated and confusing.”

But Steve Shea, director of research for the California Debt Advisory Commission, cautioned that the proposal’s benefits may be more symbolic than substantive.

“People are so disappointed in the county right now, so getting rid of the county would be getting rid of this sore,” Shea said. “I think maybe it’s not being driven by cost, but it’s being driven more by the emotional or political.”

Still, Shea said, the bankruptcy might be just the right occasion to unveil the long-proposed readjustments of local and regional governments. “These ideas are always considered a little bit not-mainstream,” he said. “But maybe it would be taken more seriously because of the dire circumstances down there.”

Craig Reynolds, chief of staff for the legislator who proposed the trusteeship, state Sen. Lucy Killea (I-San Diego), said that Orange County would be an ideal test case for a restructuring plan such as Bergeson’s because it has little unincorporated territory.

“Why have two governments at your local level providing services?” he said.

Supervisor William G. Steiner and Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, however, warned against replacing the current county structure with a similar bureaucracy under a different name. Though neither has seen Bergeson’s plan, both supervisors said they agree that the role of county government must be reconsidered but are wary of sending programs to the state and cities without ensuring adequate, efficient services.

“There’s a lot of soul-searching taking place right now in the context of the bankruptcy about the role of county government,” Steiner said. “There’s no simple answer to the complexities of this restructuring.”

Vasquez, who supported the recent creation of a joint powers authority for fire services and said he hopes to make cities take full responsibility for library services, said the bottom line must be: “Do the people end up with either equal or better levels of service?”

“This financial crisis is demanding that we, as a county government, re-evaluate what business and services do we need to be in and what services do we not need to be in. That’s where we should start from,” Vasquez said. “But when you get into these kinds of revolutionary proposals, you create government boards, bureaucracies, and what started as a good idea may become more difficult, more complex. That’s my fear.”

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Shape of County to Come?

In one of the most radical plans yet to emerge from Orange County’s ongoing crisis, Supervisor Marian Bergeson is considering a restructuring that would abolish county government altogether. Bergeson’s staff believes the plan could save as much as $143 million a year by eliminating redundant services. A preliminary glimpse at how the plan--dubbed “Orange County--2001”--would look:

ORANGE COUNTY CITIES

All unincorporated areas of the county would have to join a city. Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita would become new cities, by 1997. These present county responsibilities would devolve to the cities:

* Police services

* Metropolitan planning

* Housing

* Libraries

ORANGE REGIONAL SERVICES AUTHORITY**

The new county government, such as it would be, would have an administrator and four major divisions:

* A “county mayor” elected to a four-year term

* Health and Human Services

OPTIMA (health care)

Social services

* Public Facilities

Flood control

Parks and recreation

Sanitation and waste management

Water

* Public Protection

Coroner

District attorney

Fire and emergency management

Jail administration

Probation

* Transportation

Airport

Roads and freeways

Transit

** Abolishing county government entirely would require a California constitutional amendment, so Bergeson may modify her plan to retain the Board of Supervisors, but make the members part time, and keep the appointed chief executive officer as the top administrator for the services the county runs.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

County services that would be taken over by the state:

* Voter registration and elections

* Treasury and investments

* Department of Education

* Property tax administration

* Courts and marshal

Source: Supervisor Marian Bergeson’s office