Politics & Government

Rossmoor Residents Divided on Vision for the Future

Tuesday's community workshop found residents uncertain how to confront pressure from the county to merge with Los Alamitos.

If Rossmoor’s community workshop Tuesday clarified only one thing, it’s that the residents of Rossmoor are far from unified on how to confront the threat of annexation by Los Alamitos.

Roughly two dozen residents spoke up at Tuesday’s meeting aimed at gathering community input on plans for the Rossmoor Community Services District to take on oversight of policing, animal control and trash hauling services in Rossmoor. This bid for “latent powers” is part of an effort by Rossmoor officials to fend off pressure from the county to merge with Los Alamitos. While it remains to be seen what Rossmoor’s next move will be, the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission is forging ahead today to form a task force for dealing with unincorporated islands such as Rossmoor.

According to the LAFCO staff report, Rossmoor is among the county’s priorities this year, and having Los Alamitos take over services currently provided by the county to Rossmoor is an option. In a time of state- and countywide budget crunching, it seems unlikely that Rossmoor will be allowed to remain unchanged, warned Rossmoor officials. However, several residents at Tuesday’s meeting spoke out in favor of making no changes to services while as many others urged the district to pursue latent powers, and still others said they would be unable to decide the matter without seeing the cost-benefit analyses of the proposal.

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Rossmoor resident Mark Nitikman spoke vehemently in favor of acquiring the power to oversee police and animal control contracts in Rossmoor to ward off annexation.

“The county and LAFCO and the city of Los Alamitos are conspiring to force us into the arms of Los Alamitos,” Nitikman said. “You feel like you're Poland being divided up by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.”

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On the other side of the spectrum, resident Cary Parton argued against acquiring latent powers and accused Rossmoor officials of ignoring the will of the voters, who opted not to incorporate into cityhood in 2008.

“Everything I am hearing so far sounds like an end-run around the voters,” Parton said. “This is just another guise for incorporation.”

Longtime Rossmoor resident Del Clark said she was receptive to the possibility of having local control over police and animal control services. However, she said, residents would need to see what the real costs would be before they could decide.

Resident Richard Butterfield warned that the status quo that most residents want to maintain is not likely to be an option given the economy and pressure from the county to merge with or accept services from Los Alamitos.

“Change is coming our way whether we like it or not,” he said.

The county and Los Alamitos officials have made it pretty clear that they want to transfer services for Rossmoor over to Los Alamitos, said Alfred Coletta, a member of the Rossmoor Community Services District Board of Directors.

“And I just don’t think you get anything for free in this world,” Coletta said.

With Los Alamitos services, Rossmoor residents would likely have to pay for the city’s administrative overhead, including expenses such as city staff retirement funds, he said.

Coletta predicted that Rossmoor residents would end up paying more for basic services from Los Alamitos without having the community input and oversight that they would get if the county gave Rossmoor the power to contract for services.

"I think we all like choice,” he said. “One of the American experiences is having choice and being heard.”


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