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Orange County Water District’s $10,000 party proposal tabled, may be scaled back

February 20, 2025

One might be forgiven for confusing the board meeting room for an elementary school playground: “I support first responders.” “Well, I support first responders more!”

On Wednesday evening, the Orange County Water District’s governing board spent more than a half-hour debating whether to spend up to $10,000 on a “First Responder Appreciation Luncheon to express our gratitude and strengthen relationships.”

But, as manager of the groundwater basin, OCWD doesn’t directly supply or work with first responders.

And over the past 10 or 15 years, there have been just nine or 10 incidents requiring first responder intervention. None resulted in arrests, and there’s a security wall around OCWD’s campus with its own 24-hour security at the gate.

“I’ll be the first to say I support first responders 100%,” said Stephen Sheldon, representing Irvine, Newport Beach and Tustin. But in the current political environment — where arguably critical government functions are labeled wasteful — “I feel this expense is not appropriate,” he said. “We can find other ways to do this.”

Board member Fred Jung, the mayor of Fullerton, agreed, noting that OCWD could buy folks steak and a bottle of wine for what they’d be spending. “I don’t find the expense consistent with what we’re trying to do here,” said Jung, adding that he supported first responders but felt OCWD should be respectful of ratepayers and taxpayers as well.

“Do you really support first responders? Do you really?” asked Valerie Amezcua, Santa Ana’s mayor. “We are all running out. They are running in.”

Sheldon shot back with, essentially, don’t judge my heart and one can’t buy one’s way into heaven. Just because you spend money doesn’t mean you support first responders, he said.

Cathy Green of the Orange County Water District joined other officials as they used recycled water to toast expansion of OCWD's Groundwater Replenishment System in Fountain Valley in 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) — Cathy Green of the Orange County Water District joined other officials as they toasted expansion of OCWD’s Groundwater Replenishment System in Fountain Valley in 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cathy Green, representing Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, who modeled the luncheon idea after a similar event at Moulton Niguel Water District, said there was nothing nefarious about it and that many first responders are simply unfamiliar with OCWD’s campus. There are many chemicals there and staffers might have to guide police and/or firefighters to the site of an emergency. The luncheon would serve the dual purpose of showing appreciation to staffers and familiarizing emergency workers with the campus.

It might be worth noting here that the district was founded 92 years ago, in 1933. Anyway, in the end — after noting that they spent more time discussing a $10,000 allocation than the many millions of dollars worth of projects on the consent calendar — the board decided to table the luncheon proposal while staffers consider scaling back the expense and (perhaps) breadth of the event. They might focus on Fountain Valley first responders, who’d be most likely to be first on the scene of an emergency.

OCWD supplies water to 19 cities and special districts in north and central O.C., including Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and Westminster. A particularly snarky reader wondered if first responders should actually be feting OCWD — after all, we live in a semi-desert and they all drink water, don’t they?

Orange County Water District’s $10,000 party proposal tabled, may be scaled back Orange County Register

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Orange County Water District’s $10,000 party proposal tabled, may be scaled back

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