Fullerton's Future

As Costa Mesa begins the largest layoff in Costa Mesa history, I can’t help but wonder what may be in store for Fullerton’s 700-plus employees.  For that matter, public employees throughout Orange County should be very nervous. 

Our country and certainly our OC cities are struggling to maintain basic services while Wisconsin public employees battle their governor and legislature to protect their ability to collectively bargain and negotiate salaries.  Costa Mesa employees discovered the price for their great salaries and benefits the hard way. 

Although Fullerton employees are not as likely to see half of their co-workers get pink slips, they should nonetheless step up to the table and make concessions from within, if for no other reason than to save their own job from getting cut.  There are some large expense coming and something somewhere will have to be cut.

The water rate study with its built in franchise tax has me pondering the future of Fullerton.  Specifically, I can’t help but repeat the same question to myself, searching for the answer.  What else, besides our water system, has city management neglected to plan for?

We carefully prepare all sorts of planning documents with the craftiest of legalese to head off and divert certain disasters such as having a tattoo parlor too close to a school or live outdoor entertainment.   These plans serve to protect our city from unscrupulous developers and businessmen who would otherwise wreak havoc on our [perfect little town while corrupting the morals of our youth.

Unfortunately, as the quote goes, even “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”   

So, back to that haunting question, what has management missed that needs to be accounted for and planned for, like the water system?

Roads.  Those are important and they are terrible, at least in most of Fullerton.  The potholes wreck my suspension and tires.  The broken asphalt soon turns to loose gravel and we’ve all seen those loose gravel signs.

The sidewalks and curbs are pretty bad, too.  There is a very real and hidden danger with broken and uplifted curbs when they create ponds that act as mosquito nurseries.  Mosquitoes transmit West Nile virus and dozens of other dangerous pathogens. 

Our street lights are in bad shape.  There are about 6 or 8 street lights that I drive past early every morning on my very short commute.  Several have been out for as long as I can remember noticing the absence of light.  And you may recall the story in the Orange County Register that featured several downed street lights still lying where they had fallen.  In one case, the light remained for a month and a half!  

Electricity, gas, phone…all are provided for by private companies, not the City of Fullerton.

There is our sanitary sewer, yet to be mentioned.  The irony is paralyzing.  There is nothing sanitary about any sewer!  In Fullerton, we pay to maintain the sewer through our water bill.  The powers of City Hall have determined that the water that flows through your meter will eventually trickle into the sewer.  That’s a good theory if we all had landscape water meters and used reclaimed water which few homeowners have.  My point being that the sewer fee attached to our water bill should be enough to maintain the sewers forever.  But will it really cover the true costs?  Doubtful.

What about our public buildings?  Do we have a plan to repair and eventually replace all of our public buildings?  The taxpayers are in the process of building a shiny new $28 million community center in Amerige Heights.  Do we have funds set aside to maintain and eventually replace it? 

The City of Fullerton owns several parking lots.  Have we set aside the appropriate funding to repair and replace the pavement?

As a licensed professional land surveyor, I am always in search of survey monuments.  Some mark property lines and others are reference markers to help piece land boundaries together with the infrastructure like puzzle pieces.  When cities ramp up their maintenance operations, the survey monuments get destroyed.  Despite the fact that destroying a survey monument is at the very least a misdemeanor (CPC605), they are still destroyed by well intentioned engineers and contractors.  Replacing just one monument can cost thousands of dollars if it is not accounted for before construction.  And who pays the bill to replace them?  According to California’s Business and Professions Code (§8771), the contractor and the government agency who hired the contractor are both responsible.  Eventually, all of California’s cities will have to take stock of their monuments and pay to replace them; it’s just a matter of time.  Anaheim and New Port Beach have done a great job which will help keep costs low for many years. 

Whether we are talking survey monuments, water systems, or streets, Fullerton is behind the curve and the cost will be substantial.

All too often, we feel good about a project and move forward without thinking about tomorrow.