Orange County Public Works

With the first El Nino-influenced storm of the season now history but anticipating others yet to come, Caltrans and Orange County workers are racing to complete emergency repairs to freeways, to shore up weakened flood channels and to remove debris left after several days of powerful Santa Ana winds. Weather forecasters say another storm spawned off the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea is headed toward Southern California, and could bring more rainfall late today or early Monday.

It's been 14 years since a destructive El Nino storm dumped three inches of rain in three hours over Orange County, but Corrine Welch can't forget how the flood control channel near her home suddenly overflowed its banks and turned her neighborhood into a marshland. The infamous March 1, 1983, storm caused $48.5 million in damage, flooded 1,000 homes and displaced thousands of people.

A nine-month, $5-million project to dredge silt from Upper Newport Bay was nearly derailed this week as county officials scrambled to save the project. County supervisors had been asked Tuesday to scrap the existing contract with Soli-Flo Partners and advertise for new bids on the work, which was to have begun this month, because the company couldn't provide a required bond. But Fluor Corp.

Orange County's booming economy is slowly beginning to offer some budgetary relief to local governments in the form of higher tax revenue and reduced demand for some types of public assistance. Sales tax revenue, the single largest source of income for most cities, is rising at a modest but healthy pace in communities from Brea to Laguna Niguel. The county's two largest cities, Santa Ana and Anaheim, expect sales tax collections to rise 6% and 4% respectively over the next year.

Horseback riders, hikers, bicyclists and other outdoor enthusiasts are fighting a portion of County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier's government reorganization plan that would merge the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department with agencies that handle flood control and other public works projects. Park users fear the consolidation would lessen the county's commitment to providing recreational services, dilute the power of top parks administrators and possibly result in less funding.

Boy Scouts are taught to offer a helping hand to those in need. But in post-bankruptcy, post-Proposition 13 Orange County, an increasing number of Scouts are offering their services to an unlikely group: cash-strapped cities, school districts and other government agencies. Eagle Scout candidates in La Palma, for example, recently restored a campfire ring, inspected trees in parks and traffic medians, and conducted a safety survey of all 127 city stop signs.

Beyond layoffs and service cuts, Orange County's waning bankruptcy can be measured by what won't happen because of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron's risky investments. In South County, motorists have long expected the county to widen and reroute a portion of Laguna Canyon Road, a winding highway considered one of the region's most dangerous. But because of the bankruptcy, the county lacks the money and will delay the project--a prospect that doesn't sit well with residents.

Beginning Jan. 1, the length of a 5-mile flood control channel won't be five miles anymore. It will be 8 kilometers. Orange County is slowly beginning to embrace the metric system. The first signs of this transformation will come next year, when specifications for public works projects will require measurements in meters and liters instead of feet and gallons.

Public works, counseling services and the county's Food Distribution Center were the big winners in the annual Community Development Block Grant stakes this week. City Council members unanimously approved recommendations made by a citizens committee to divide about $1.7 million in federal funds among municipal public works projects and nonprofit agencies in the city. "It's not an easy process," said Mary Ellen Laster, who oversees the grant program for the city.

In the 14 months since a rare torrent of rain turned the quiet streets of Leisure World into destructive rivers, signs of the flooding have pretty much disappeared. The 200 water-damaged homes have been remodeled, and the retirement community's landmark amphitheater, which resembled a swimming pool after the Jan. 5, 1995 deluge struck, is again hosting concerts and dances. But a strategy for preventing future flooding remains uncertain.