The Costa Mesa City Council is currently seeking interested individuals from the community to serve on the Parks and Recreation and Senior Commissions.

Parks and Recreation Commission – The Commission meets monthly and assists the City Council and various City departments with issues related to parks, parkways recreation programs and community services.  Currently, there is one (1) vacancy, with a term expiration of February 2021. Applicants must be registered voters in the City.  For further information, please contact Administrative Secretary Allison Burch at (714) 754-5009.

Senior Commission: The Commission meets every other month and functions as an advisory body to the City Council on issues related to the Costa Mesa Senior Center and senior programs and services within the community.  Currently, there is one (1) vacancy, with a term expiration of February 2021. For further information, please contact Administrative Secretary Allison Burch at (714) 754-5009.

Application Process – Residents who are interested in getting involved in local government are encouraged to complete a Commission Application Form from the City Clerk’s Office or from the City’s website (www.costamesaca.gov/apply).

The completed application may be submitted online; mailed to Costa Mesa City Clerk at Post Office Box 1200, Costa Mesa, California, 92628-1200; faxed to (714) 754-4942; emailed to cityclerk@costamesaca.gov; or hand-delivered to the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. The deadline is 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 2, 2018.

Appointments are tentatively scheduled for the June 5, 2018 City Council meeting.

Mayor Sandy Genis presented longtime Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kim Pederson with the Mayor’s Award to commend him for his years of service to the community and youth sports.

“For your years of service to this community, your extraordinary leadership, and your passion for serving on the Parks Commission, it is my honor and privilege to present you with the Mayor’s Award.”

Pederson, who spent 30 years a Newport Beach city employee, served on the Parks and Recreation Commission beginning in 1999 and only recently announced he was resigning from the commission to spend more leisure time with his family at a summer home he recently purchased in northern Minnesota, where he was born and raised.

He said he was very humbled by the Mayor’s Award recognition.

“There are so many other people who deserve this, but I appreciate you to take the time to honor me this way,” he said.

He credited his wife Carolyn for supporting him in his endeavors and he cited his sons and all the kids in the city as what motivated and drove him to be involved. He also paid special tribute to those who take the time to voice their opinions at public meetings and thanked City Council members and city staff for their dedication.

To see more about Pederson, watch the video below:

The City of Costa Mesa has hired Jennifer Keller, one of the nation’s premier trial attorneys, to defend itself against lawsuits and challenges to the city’s sober living ordinances, which are designed to protect residential neighborhoods from overconcentration of rehab homes.

“I look forward to representing the City of Costa Mesa against untrue accusations that it has treated certain sober living homes unfairly,” Keller said. “The opposite is true, and the City looks forward to being vindicated by a jury.”

Keller’s resume includes several victories in multiple high-profile cases, including the famous Barbie vs. Bratz trial, Auerbach vs. Daily and the United States vs. The McGraw-Hill Companies.

“By hiring Jennifer Keller, we hope that sends a message that we will vigorously defend our sober living ordinances and our neighborhoods from nuisance issues related to rehab homes,” Mayor Sandy Genis said. “Our ordinance is fair and strikes a balance between the rights of residents and those who are recovering from addiction to enjoy our residential neighborhoods.”

Keller will first go to work defending the city in a lawsuit filed by Yellowstone Recovery that challenges the city’s sober living ordinances and will continue to defend the city in other related legal actions.

Keller’s impressive resume notes she has tried over 150 cases to jury verdict across a broad range of complex civil and criminal subject matter, including business, intellectual property, insurance and white-collar crime.

One of her most recent victories was the Chavez et al vs. MassMutual Life Insurance Co, a bellwether class action jury trial in which she secured a complete defense verdict as well as the People vs. Biane et al, a nine-month white collar jury trial that took the jurors a little over two hours to decide in favor of her developer client.

In the Barbie vs. Bratz trial, Keller represented MGA Entertainment and prevailed against Mattel, and the toy company was ordered to pay $85 million in theft damages and $85 million in punitive damages to MGA.

Just two years earlier, Keller won California’s largest business jury verdict in 2009 with $350 million awarded to her venture capitalist client in Auerbach vs. Daily. More recently, she represented Standard & Poors in the United States vs. The McGraw-Hill Companies in a case that eventually settled for over $1 billion.

Described as a “gifted litigator,” Keller is a past president of the Orange County Bar Association and is currently a member of the Chapman University Board of Trustees. Her clients include judges, public officials, law enforcement officers, CEOs, CFOs, lawyers, physicians, professional athletes, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Beginning at 5 p.m., the City of Costa Mesa will be video streaming via Facebook Live the March 28Special City Council meeting regarding homeless and the Fairview Developmental Center.

Click here to go the City of Costa Mesa Facebook page to watch the meeting.

Also, the agenda for tonight’s meeting is available here.

Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue  announced the promotion of Fire Engineer Kevin Reddy to Fire Captain and Firefighter/Paramedic Mike Ruhl to Fire Engineer.  

This past week, family, friends and members of Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue team gathered in their valued tradition of celebrating the first day of promotion at their newly assigned fire station, respectively. 

Those gathered at Fire Station No. 3 watched as Fire Chief Dan Stefano pinned the captain’s badge on Kevin Reddy’s chest and the entire Command Staff joined in with his collar brass pinning and the presentation of his captain’s helmets. 

“We expect Captain Reddy to have an immediate impact in his new role,” Chief Stefano said. “He has consistently shown himself to be a strong, fair, and ethical leader who clearly understands the big picture and the value in serving others.”  

Two days later, at Fire Station No. 5, those gathered watched as Chief Stefano pinned the Engineer’s badge on Mike Ruhl’s chest.  

“Engineer Ruhl’s strong technical skill sets are matched with an extraordinarily positive approach in everything he does and an unwavering compassion for those around him,” Chief Stefano said.

Capt. Reddy has been a member of the Costa Mesa team since 2008, preceded by service with the Riverside County Fire Department.

Reddy’s s contributions to the organization have been outstanding, ranging from his leadership with EMS Programs, Community Engagement, Strategic Planning, and Probationary Firefighter Training.  In addition, Reddy has earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Studies from Brandman University.

Engineer Ruhl has been a member of the Costa Mesa team since 2008 and has contributed to the organization in many ways. His work includes being a paramedic preceptor and mentor to others, a leader and department coordinator for the Race for the Cure,  as an Explorer Advisor and member of the Tools and Equipment Committee and his most recent involvement as the lead for our Firefighter Peer Support Program. 

Ruhl earned an Associate of Science Degree from Santa Ana College and is currently attending Kaplan University, where he is very close to earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Emergency Management. 

 On May 3, 2018, Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue will have a formal promotional badge pinning and swearing in ceremony that will include the department’s 16 newest firefighters. 

The ceremony will begin at 9:00 am in the City Council Chambers and the entire community is invited to attend.

The Costa Mesa City Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday March 28 to discuss homeless issues and the Fairview Developmental Center.

The meeting will be held in the Grand Hall of  the Costa Mesa Senior Center, which is located at 695 W. 19th Street.

A formal agenda for the meeting will be available and distributed on Tuesday March 27.

City Manager Tom Hatch presented the March City Manager Leadership Award to the Finance Department’s Treasury Specialist Mathew Schmelzel at the monthly Meet and Greet event on Thursday March 22.

“Matt is a great contributor to the Finance Department team,” City Manager Hatch said. “He is respected by his peers and has a can-do attitude. I truly appreciate his dedication to his work and the city.”

Schmelzel was promoted to treasury specialist in December of 2016 and that alone is a big job. Some of his primary job functions are to review financial records and related revenue collections for compliance with the City’s Municipal Code including: Transient Occupancy Tax, various rent payments and business licensing. He also issues nonprofit solicitation permits, and bingo permits. In the absence of the revenue supervisor he is responsible for daily banking and cash management functions as well as training and supporting staff.

But soon after assuming that role the revenue supervisor and the accounting specialist left the City leaving a huge vacancy in the Treasury Division. Schmelzel stepped up to take on some of the Revenue Supervisor’s job responsibilities such as daily cash management, special event permits, and fireworks permits.

In addition to learning his new role as the treasury specialist, Schmelzel was training a new employee on issuing business and animal license permits and managing Treasury staff. Plus, Schmelzel was on a committee for the selection of a new online animal licensing system.

Schmelzel has continued to coordinate the City’s special event permitting process, which requires collaboration with City departments and outside parties to ensure compliance with the City’s Special Events Permit Ordinance. In addition to issuing over 50 permits in 2017, some of the larger special event projects he has worked on include the OC Marathon and the Chargers Training Camp.

Schmelzel joined the city in March of 2014 as a part time permit processing specialist. He has  Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Cal State Fullerton with a concentration in finance.

In addition to Schmelzel, City Manager Hatch welcomed several new and newly promoted employees. The new hires included:

Flor Paniagua, Jade Sims and Andre “A.J” Wallace, all recreation leader IIs in the Parks & Community Services Deparment, and Police Officers James C. Hagan and Tyler Salem. In the Public Services Department, Hatch welcomed Azita Fakoorbayat a new principal civil engineer, Bobby Fouladi, a new associate engineer and Nazila Mokarram a senior engineer.

The newly promoted employees include Code Enforcement Officer Andy Godinez, Rene Jimenez and Elena Martinez to recreation leader IV and Jessica Martinez to recreation specialist.

The City’s Community Improvement Division has created a new web page that will provide visitors with a host of information regarding various categories of code enforcement activities.

Click here to view that page.

Visitors to the page can get lists of the code enforcement activities throughout the City such as building code violations, property maintenance violations, inoperable vehicles, and group home complaints. Click here.

For example, for group homes, the webpage provides information regarding group homes that have received conditional use permits to operate, state licensed facilities, pending group home applications, homes that have been issued citations, closed locations and homes currently under review. Click here.

The page also has links to information related to medical marijuana uses permitted by Measure X and garage sales.

The page also has contact information, phone numbers and links to file nuisance complaints.

Residents and web page visitors can call a duty officer/main hotline at (714) 754-5638 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or use the City’s Costa Mesa Connect service here.

For state licensed homes, residents can click here to file a complaint with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).

Members of the Costa Mesa Library Foundation Committee presented Mayor Sandy Genis and the City Council with three checks totaling $26,000 that will help fund essential equipment that will enhance the experience of children, teens, and adults visiting the new Donald Dungan Library that is currently under construction.

Longtime library advocates and members of the Friends of the Library Barbara Steck, Charlene Ashendorf and Mary Ellen Goddard presented three checks, which include, $6,000 for the Children’s Library Early Childhood play and Learning Island, $15,000 for the Teen Library Technology Bar and $5,000 for the Interactive Media Display.

“Thank you for investing in our community and most importantly thank you for your strong support,” Mayor Sandy Genis said.  “We truly value your partnership.”

The city is currently in the process of constructing the Lions Park Projects, a $36.5 million public works effort that will include a new 20,000-square-foot Donald Dungan Library as well as the refurbishment of the existing library into a new Neighborhood Community Center and many park improvements.

The library is scheduled for completion in spring of 2020. For more information about the projects click here.

In every local government organization, staff members write staff reports to present important information and inform the legislative body.

These staff reports can cover any number of topics, from purchasing playground equipment to development projects.

Costa Mesa Assistant City Manager Tamara Letourneau has worked in city government for 29 years and for the last 17 years, she has taught university level courses in city management.

During that time as a college instructor, she learned that no resource existed to teach students and employees how to write a staff report.

“So I wrote one myself,” she said. “There is no other resource like it.”

The result is “Mastering the Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Quality Staff Report for Local Government,” which is billed as a resource guide for local government professionals.

Click here to order the book on Amazon.

According to the book summary, this guide simplifies the process and can serve as a reference manual that all government professionals keep on-hand throughout their careers.

Letourneau added several personal touches, including a forward from her mentor and the first city manager she worked for Jim Starbird, who is now retired.

Each chapter of the book is a guide to write each section in the staff report, including Tammy’s Tips at the end of each chapter.