Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung was reappointed to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board of Directors on Thursday, November 5, following a closely contested 4-3 vote by the Orange County City Selection Committee. The appointment comes as Jung faces an active recall campaign in Fullerton, where organizers are collecting signatures to force a special election over concerns about his leadership, fiscal management, and handling of city affairs.
Jung, who is registered as No Party Preference (NPP), prevailed over Buena Park Councilmember Carlos Franco, a Democrat endorsed by the Democratic Party of Orange County.
Four mayors supported Jung’s reappointment:
- Fred Jung, Fullerton – No Party Preference
- Jose Medrano, La Habra – Democrat
- David Shawver, Stanton – Republican
- Chad Wanke, Placentia – Republican
The appointment extends Jung’s representation of the Fourth Supervisorial District on OCTA through December 2028. He has served on the board since 2022 and currently holds the position of vice chair.
The Orange County Transportation Authority is one of the county’s most consequential public agencies, overseeing transportation planning, infrastructure investments, and public transportation services affecting over 3 million residents across 34 cities. OCTA operates OC Bus and OC ACCESS, helps fund Metrolink commuter rail, oversees major freeway and road improvements, and supports projects involving bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian safety. The agency also administers Measure M, Orange County’s voter-approved half-cent transportation sales tax, which provides funding for improvements to highways, local streets, and public transportation.
Despite the agency’s significant influence over transportation policy and taxpayer spending, most residents never directly vote for their OCTA representatives. OCTA is governed by an 18-member board, including five county supervisors, ten city representatives, two public members, and a nonvoting Caltrans representative. The ten city representatives are selected by the Orange County City Selection Committee rather than through a direct public election.
For the Fourth Supervisorial District’s appointment, the mayors or designated representatives of Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, and Stanton each receive one vote, regardless of their city’s population.
In December, OCTA established an operating funding target for Metrolink approximately 10% below its previous fiscal year’s contribution, representing a reduction of roughly $5.2 million. On June 8, 2026, OCTA’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve its fiscal year 2026-27 budget, which incorporated the reduced Metrolink funding target. Jung was present and voted in favor of the budget.
OCTA officials have defended their funding position, citing lower-than-anticipated ridership, increasing operating expenses, and the exhaustion of temporary state and federal funding that previously helped sustain commuter rail operations. The agency has argued that its contribution must remain sustainable within the long-term revenues available through Measure M.
On November 5, the California State Transportation Agency announced a $20 million grant to Metrolink intended to prevent the proposed service reductions and maintain current operations through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. While the funding provides temporary relief, questions remain about Metrolink’s long-term financial sustainability. The Metrolink Board is scheduled to consider its revised budget on November 13.
Jung’s record on local transportation projects has also drawn scrutiny from residents advocating for improved pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. In May 2023, the Fullerton City Council considered a redesign of Associated Road between Bastanchury Road and Imperial Highway. The proposal would have reduced the existing four traffic lanes to two, widened bicycle facilities, and potentially introduced Fullerton’s first Class IV protected bicycle lanes. The redesign had received OCTA review and approval, along with recommendations from several city advisory bodies.
City staff proposed incorporating the changes during an already-planned road rehabilitation project, allowing the city to pursue safety improvements with limited additional construction costs. The proposal encountered opposition from some nearby residents concerned about parking, congestion, and neighborhood impacts. The council ultimately did not advance the lane reduction, retaining the existing four traffic lanes.
Another controversial transportation decision involved Walk on Wilshire, a pedestrianized public space established in downtown Fullerton during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2025, Jung and Councilmember Jamie Valencia voted against extending the pedestrian zone, while Councilmembers Shana Charles and Ahmad Zahra supported its continuation. Councilmember Nick Dunlap recused himself because of a familial financial interest in the area. The resulting 2-2 deadlock ended the program, and the street subsequently reopened to vehicle traffic.
Jung also opposed the city’s Union Pacific Trail Phase II project, a proposed walking and bicycling corridor in southern Fullerton supported by approximately $1.78 million in state grant funding. In August 2023, Jung supported exploring whether the grant could be redirected to a different project or returned to the state. In May 2025, he cast the lone dissenting vote when the council approved additional city funding for the trail’s construction.
Jung’s appointment also comes during a period of political controversy in Fullerton. Recall organizers began circulating petitions against Jung and Valencia in September, citing concerns about fiscal management, government transparency, and decisions made by the council majority. The separate recall campaigns must collect approximately 3,100 valid signatures from registered voters in their respective council districts before an election can be scheduled. The signature-gathering period continues through January 14, 2027.
At Thursday’s City Selection Committee meeting, members of the public spoke both about Jung’s record and the responsibilities of regional board representatives. The narrow vote ultimately returned Jung to OCTA, where he will continue participating in decisions involving billions of dollars in transportation spending.
Jung currently serves as OCTA vice chair and chairs its Transit Committee. The board will separately elect its 2027 chair in January. His reappointment places him in a position to continue influencing the county’s transportation priorities as Fullerton residents pursue a recall election and OCTA confronts significant questions about the future of regional transit.
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Categories: Local Government, Local News
I don’t know what in the world Walk on Wilshire or the Union Pacific Trail have to do with OCTA. If the author is concerned about Mayor Jung’s actions regarding bicycle infrastructure in Fullerton he should recall that closing down a block of Wilshire Ave. at Harbor for street dining interrupted the official Fullerton Bicycle Boulevard (an OCTA funded project) for cyclists. Mayor Jung’s vote to reopen Wilshire restored full operational access for cyclists (and, no, moving the bike lanes to the center of Wilshire was not a solution. Cars would park right across those lanes while picking up food).
Readers might also like to know that Mayor Jung’s intervention preserved two important OCTA Fullerton bus lines from elimination. Route 123, formerly designated line 24 on Commonwealth, as well as line 37 on Euclid between Commonwealth and La Habra were both saved during his tenure.
Let’s remember that a Recall attempts to establish that our democratic process of election and the “will of the voters” was incorrect. A recall was used successfully against Josh Newman. The bar a Recall must clear is and should be high.
All the best, David Spargur
It is eye-opening to see how these regional boards are filled, not with regard to the best candidate for the job, but rather as a popularity contest based on who did whom a favor three years ago. It’s also astonishing that they are not readily accessible to the public through Zoom and their agenda not widely posted. The public deserves to know who is making decisions about their public services.
OCTA’s budget cuts were on the brink of sending Metrolink into a death spiral that would have dismantled the entire service. OCTA could have diverted funds from useless freeway widening projects (“improvements” is a misleading euphemism), which have been shown not to improve traffic and in fact only worsen it. But instead, they chose to withhold funding from Metrolink.
Jung does not support active transportation projects, and he’s made that clear through his votes. The Walk on Wilshire was incredibly popular with pedestrians, cyclists, business owners, and the general community (I biked through there daily and loved the infrastructure). Jung voted against it because his campaign donor, Tony Bushala, wanted it gone, not because it negatively impacted downtown or bike lanes, despite what Jung & Bushala’s supporters like to claim. Bike access is worsened now that they must share it with cars. Jung’s persistent opposition to the UP Trail was disastrous; it took months to get Council to approve it at last and Jung fought tooth and nail against it, again because Bushala didn’t want it built.
It’s clear that elected officials use these board appointments as political stepping stones, not as avenues to improve public access and services. We as the public need to show up and demonstrate we’re not afraid to hold elected officials accountable for their actions that directly impact us all.
Amy, I support moving freeway widening funding to mass transit too. I’m not sure why you pivot to Walk on Wilshire, which actually interrupted an OCTA project, and was certainly was not supported by this cyclist. Despite your claim, there were no bicycle lanes on Wilshire for Walk on Wilshire to negatively impact. The city added a dedicated lane in the center of the street (after months of complaints) that I personally saw blocked by vehicles parked across it parallel to Harbor on the east side (one nearby restaurant worker found it to be a convenient loading zone) and diners picking up takeout would often block the lanes on the west side. The plan for the OCTA funded Bicycle Boulevard was always for bicycles and automobiles to share the road. A dedicated lane for bicycles across a single block of this miles long project was not going to make anyone safer, it only caused confusion.
As I noted above, Fred Jung’s support for reopening Wilshire restored an OCTA funded project, but you and the author of this article seem to think that he should have subverted it instead, reneging on the funding awarded to the city for the Bicycle Boulevard. I would think OCTA directors would reward anyone who defended OCTA projects in their city, as they indeed have by extending Fred Jung’s term.