Statute would beef up board

Deirdre Newman

While more populated cities like Santa Ana and Huntington Beach are

hoping the governor signs a bill that would enlarge the Orange County

Transportation Authority board of directors, smaller cities such as

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa could also benefit.

The bill, now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk, would enable

the transportation authority’s board to have 10 city representatives

-- two from each of the five county supervisorial districts. Its

number of voting members would jump from 11 to 17.

Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), the bill’s author, is

touting the expansion as a means of getting densely-populated

surrounding cities more representation on the board, which weighs in

on county transportation projects. Costa Mesa Mayor Gary Monahan

supports the bill, agreeing that an expanded board could be

beneficial for both large and smaller cities.

“I think larger cities will benefit because they have larger

traffic problems,” Monahan said. “I think it will be a

much-better-aligned board and better than it has been.”

The board now has four county supervisors, six city

representatives and a public member who vote. No city officials from

Costa Mesa or Newport Beach are now on the board.

If the bill is passed, the voting members would be all five county

supervisors and two members from the public, in addition to the 10

city representatives. These 10 members would be chosen by California

League of Cities representatives in each supervisorial district.

These representatives would take two votes to see which cities

would get to have members on the board. The first vote includes a

weighted method, based on population. Under the bill, a city could

get a member on the board if it has more than 50% of the population

of the supervisorial district.

In the second vote, each League of Cities representative would get

one vote -- as opposed to being based on population -- and whichever

city got the most votes would get a seat on the board.

“Each city gets to vote for who should be on the board, so smaller

cities should get a chance to get a representative on the board much

easier than they do now,” said Chris Leo, Correa’s chief of staff.

“It basically forces cities to work together and county supervisors

to work with cities. It forces coordination among the two to work

together on policy issues, so everyone gets to be represented.”

The bill is opposed by four out of the county’s five supervisors,

including Supervisor Jim Silva, who is concerned that enlarging the

board will make it more difficult to accomplish things.

“The bigger the board, the more unwieldy it is,” said Silva, who

is a transportation authority board member.

Correa, a candidate for the board of supervisors in November, said

the increase is necessary to better reflect the changing demographics

of Orange County. And it will create more debate on the board, he

added.

“Absolutely, it will create friction, and I think that’s good,”

Correa said. “Debate is good ... because we continue to empower the

cities, and at the same time, we’re not really taking anything away

from the county.”

Newport Beach is staying neutral on the bill, Mayor Tod Ridgeway

said, but he believes the concept of the bill is fair.

“The corridors and the transportation issues that are more

internal to the county are more of a concern to the largest cities,”

Ridgeway said.