Dana L Desrosiers

When Helen Wilson ran first in a City Council election three years ago, there was no cause for celebration. Voters had elected her but at the same time overwhelmingly rejected the proposed city of Saddleback Valley. Wilson is now a candidate for the proposed City Council in El Toro, and although she insists that she is not taking anything for granted, many consider it a virtual certainty that she will take office.

When Helen Wilson ran first in a City Council election three years ago, there was no cause for celebration. Voters had elected her but at the same time overwhelmingly rejected the proposed city of Saddleback Valley. Wilson is now a candidate for the proposed City Council in El Toro, and although she insists that she is not taking anything for granted, many consider it a virtual certainty that she will take office.

With voter approval in hand, leaders of the two future south Orange County cities of Laguna Hills and El Toro on Wednesday found a new problem. How do you set up your new governments and hire key city staffers without the legal authority to do so until Dec. 20, when incorporation becomes official? "As a City Council, we have no money and no authority to do anything, and yet we have to go out and set this up," Laguna Hills Councilman-elect Joel Lautenschleger said.

Rallying to a cry of "local control," citizens in El Toro and Laguna Hills appeared to be declaring independence from Orange County government Tuesday in referendums to form the county's 30th and 31st cities. "We were confident cityhood would win, but we never wanted to take anything for granted," Ellen Martin, chairwoman of Citizens to Save Laguna Hills, said as early returns showed cityhood winning overwhelming approval.