The pool at the Downtown Recreation Center has been undergoing some much needed updating.

The installation of a new pool pump VFD (Variable Frequency Drive), new chemical controller and new backwash controller was recently completed and all are performing up to expectations.

The rusted rebar areas in the plaster on the pool floor have been repaired by scuba divers from Underwater Unlimited and a new pool heater is scheduled to be installed soon.

All work is expected to be completed in January 2017.

Three new members of the City Council were sworn in Tuesday night Dec. 13 and the council chose Katrina Foley as the new mayor and Sandra Genis as the new mayor pro-tem.

Joining the council for four-year terms is returning Council Member Genis, former Councilman and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor and longtime community leader and attorney John Stephens.

The trio of new council members join Mayor Foley and Council Member Jim Righeimer on the five-member body.

“I am so honored and blessed to be serving as mayor in a city that I love so dearly,” Mayor Foley said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the council to create an inclusive environment at City Hall for residents and businesses alike. I look forward to partnering with the business, tourism and arts community to enhance and further define our community as the City of the Arts.”

Foley, who was elected to the council in 2014, has a long history of community involvement and was first elected to City Council in 2004 and re-elected in 2008 before running successfully for the Newport-Mesa school board in 2010.

Foley is president of The Foley Group, a Professional Law Corporation in Newport Beach. The Foley Group, PLC provides services in artist and athlete management, employment litigation, family law, education advocacy and non-profit compliance matters.

Genis, who was raised in Costa Mesa and attended Estancia High School, was first elected to the City Council in 1988 and served as mayor from 1989 to 1990. She was re-elected in 1992 and ran again in 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and both times was the top vote getter.

She is a retired city planner and has worked on a number of community causes, such as the preservation of Fairview Park and keeping the OC Fairgrounds in public ownership.

Mansoor was first elected to the City Council in 2002 and was appointed mayor in 2005 and again in 2007 and 2009. Also an Estancia graduate, Mansoor served as an Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was elected to the 74^th District of the State Assembly in 2010 and served until 2014.

This is Stephens’ first stint on the City Council after a narrow loss in 2012. As a resident of Costa Mesa since 1989, he has deep community ties and has served on the city’s Pension Oversight Committee, the Costa Mesa High School Foundation, Costa Mesans for Responsible Government and is a founding member of the St. John the Baptist Finance Council and Pastoral Council.

He was a leader of the “No” on the Charter campaigns in 2012 and 2014, including intervening in a lawsuit between the City of Costa Mesa and the Orange County Registrar of Voters in 2012 and is a member of the Orange County Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee, which evaluates judicial candidates for the governor.

A longtime attorney, his firm Stephens Friedland LLP employees four full‐time lawyers and a staff of 10 employees.

Both Stephen Mensinger and Gary Monahan officially ended their council terms on Tuesday. Mensinger was most recently mayor beginning in 2014, and Monahan was appointed mayor three times in 1998, 2003 and 2011.

Costa Mesa City CEO Tom Hatch presented Administrative Secretary Marian Stueve with the December CEO Leadership Award for her continued support of the Maintenance Services Division by working through budgeting and personnel issues.

“She is a team member with a very strong work ethic and dedication to assist,” Hatch said. “To the Corporate Yard employees, she is known as the Yard Mom, always willing to share her knowledge with fellow employees.”

Stueve began her tenure with the Costa Mesa City Clerk’s Office in August of 2004, She was an integral part of the City’s early voting process, in which Costa Mesa was one of the few cities participating in the use of a new technology for voting, the e-slate (electronic voting).

She assisted residents in providing instruction to all who came to our City Hall to participate in early voting, processing over 1,000 electronic ballots.  Only four months after she started her job, she was recognized for this work by the Mayor at a City Council meeting in December 2004.

In June 2005, Stueve was promoted to Administrative Secretary in the Public Services Department.  Within a few months of being promoted she quickly streamlined processes that provided increased customer service for maintenance related concerns.  She collaborated with the IT Department and was instrumental in the development of Costa Maintenance, a system which greatly improved the customer service and efficiency in responding to and tracking maintenance related concerns, both internal and external.  It’s also a system the city still heavily relies upon to this day.

Stueve came to the City of Costa Mesa from the private sector.  Her educational background is in nursing and still maintains her licensure with the State of California as a Vocational Nurse.

In addition to Stueve, Hatch welcomed several new full-time employees, including Arzo Azad, who went from a part time webmaster to Website Coordinator in the CEO’s Office, Frances Thorpe a new office specialist working with the City Clerk’s office.

From Parks and Community Services he also welcomed Shawna Salgado – Recreation Leader II and Maria Urquiza Sanchez to Recreation Leader III. From the Police Department Hatch welcomed Roxi Fyad as the new Public Affairs Manager and four new police officers, lateral hires from Fullerton PD Frank Nguyen and Bunnath Phot and Sheriff Academy grads Mark Garcia and Eric Molina.

Hatch also congratulated several employees for their recent promotions, including Janet Hauser, Administrative Secretary with Parks & Community Services, Rene Macias, Senior Code Enforcement Officer and Elena Martinez Recreation Leader III.

The Costa Mesa High School and Middle School Foundation reported another successful Home Tour this year.

More than 160 visitors walked through the homes and the ticket purchasers came from as far away as Pasadena and San Clemente.  

Many were returning guests from the last two years. 

Many visitors commented on how they loved the home decor, variety in the housing styles and neighborhoods, and they really enjoyed the friendly and informative docents. 

Visitors also raved about the food from Greenleaf Gourmet Chop Shop and they enjoyed browsing the store at Room & Board.  In addition to those businesses, the event was sponsored the City of Costa Mesa, The Triangle, Gatehouse, SOCO, Pottery Barn and Darlene Stinson from TNG Real Estate and Star Real Estate.

According to ticket sales, the Home Tour likely took in about $23,000 gross, which is more than double what was raised last year on the tour. 

The date for next year’s event is already set for Dec. 7, 2017 from 3-8 p.m.

See slideshow from this year’s event below:

This year, the iconic Snoopy House will mark its 50-year anniversary in Costa Mesa and fifth year at City Hall with an expanded holiday display that will feature a new Main Street look and three nights of snow.

Snoopy House, which features holiday scenes populated by “Peanuts” characters, is a free event available for viewing at City Hall from 5:30 to 9 p.m. nightly from Dec. 10 through Dec. 23.

“It has been an honor to have Snoopy House here these past five years,” Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger said. “It’s a wonderful tradition that now further connects the community to City Hall.”

The opening night of Snoopy House will begin with a formal presentation by the mayor and City Council members at 5:30 p.m.

In addition, Jim Jordan, whose family started the display at their Eastside Costa Mesa home in 1966, will be honored for the 50-year tradition.

The Jordan family members and friends put together a series of Christmas scenes that eventually took up most of their front yard, side yard and even the roof of their home.

Since its inception, the display has attracted an estimated 80,000 visitors annually.

Snoopy House moved to Costa Mesa City Hall in 2011, when city officials learned the fate of the annual tradition was in jeopardy.

The city of Costa Mesa agreed to host the display and provide other assistance and has been doing so every year since with the help of devoted staff members as well as Jim Jordan and his wife Linda, who have worked to help create the City Hall display for the last five years.

Over the last five years, Snoopy House has added several new features including nightly live music, snow, free apple cider, free photos with Santa and free train rides for children.

To complement the Snoopy House, the city also puts on a nightly light show on the façade of City Hall.

The Santa visits take place each night between 7 to 9 p.m. beginning opening night, Dec. 10, through Dec. 23. Children and their families will have opportunities to receive free photos with Santa.

In addition, several youth nonprofit groups will have booths at the Snoopy House display each night selling beverages and snacks.

The FBI issued this warning to the general public to be wary of scams during the holiday season.

How to Protect Yourself

With the holidays ramping up and seasonal shopping in full swing, criminals are also gearing up for a busy season.  Cyber criminals don’t take the holidays off. In fact, they’re especially busy trying to steal your money and personal information.  Shoppers should be more vigilant than ever for scams designed to steal their money and personal information. Though criminals are often aggressive and creative in their efforts to obtain such money and personal information, there are certain red flags and common schemes holiday shoppers can guard against this holiday season.

Online Shopping Scams

If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers often scheme to defraud consumers by offering too-good-to-be-true deals via phishing e-mails or advertisements. Such schemes may offer brand name merchandise at extremely low discounts or promise gift cards as an incentive to purchase a product. Other sites may offer products at a great price, but the products being sold are not the same as the products advertised.

Steer clear of un-trusted sites or ads offering items at unrealistic discounts or with special coupons. You may end up paying for an item, giving away personal information and credit card details, and then receive nothing in return except a compromised identity. In addition, do not open any unsolicited e-mails and do not click on any links provided.

In addition to securing your banking and credit accounts with strong and different passwords, secure all your other accounts that contain anything of value, such as: rewards accounts, online accounts that save your payment information, or accounts containing your private, personal information.

The emergence and prevalence of secondary markets for airline miles, gift cards, rewards credits, and the like have inadvertently increased the demand for, and resale value of, your stolen information.

Be vigilant when receiving items purchased from online auctions and third-party marketplaces. If an item arrives from some other online merchant, it may have been purchased using a stolen credit card number or stolen rewards points, etc. and then shipped directly to you. Report such cases to both the marketplace where you bought and the merchant who sent it.

Social Media Scams

Beware of posts on social media sites that appear to offer vouchers or gift cards, especially deals that are too good to be true, such as a free $500 gift card. Some may pose as holiday promotions or contests. It may even appear one of your friends shared the link with you.  Often, these scams lead you to participate in an online survey that is actually designed to steal personal information.

In addition, if you purchase or receive theater, concerts, or sporting event tickets as a holiday gift, do not post pictures of the tickets on social media sites. Fraudsters can create a ticket using the barcode obtained from the photo and resell the ticket. Protect ticket barcodes as you would your credit card number, and never display them on social media.

Smartphone App Scams

Be careful when downloading mobile applications. Some apps, often disguised as games and offered for free, may be designed to steal personal information. Before downloading an app from an unknown source, research the company selling it or giving it away, and look online for third-party reviews of the product. Also, be mindful that alternative app marketplaces available to “jailbroken” or “rooted” devices can potentially include copyright-infringing, stolen content and compromised versions of otherwise trustworthy applications.

Work-From-Home Scams

If you are in need of extra cash this time of year, beware of sites and postings offering work you can do from the comfort of your own home. These opportunities rely on convenience as a selling point for applicants, but often have unscrupulous motivations behind them. You should carefully research the job posting and individuals or company offering you employment.

Protect Yourself

Here are some additional steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of cyber fraud this holiday season:

• Check your credit card statement routinely. If possible, set up credit card transaction auto alerts, or check your balance after every online purchase to ensure the proper amount was charged to your account. It is important to keep checking your card after the holiday season, as many fraudulent charges can show up even several weeks later.
• If purchasing merchandise, ensure it is from a reputable source.
• Ensure a site is secure and reputable before providing your credit card number online. Don’t trust a site just because it claims to be secure.
• Do your research to ensure legitimacy of the individual or company you are purchasing from.
• Beware of providing credit card information when requested through unsolicited e-mails.
• Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mails.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Avoid filling out forms contained in e-mail messages that ask for personal information.
• Be cautious of e-mails claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. Scan the attachments for viruses if possible.
• Verify any requests for personal information from any business or financial institution by contacting them using the main contact information on their official website.
• Secure your credit card accounts, even rewards account, with strong passwords, change passwords and check your account routinely.
• Be wary when replying to unsolicited e-mails for work-at-home employment.
• Be cautious of exaggerated claims of possible earnings or profits.
• Beware when money is required up front for instructions or products for employment.
• Do not give out your personal information when first interacting with a prospective employer.
• Be leery when a job posting claims “no experience necessary.”
• Be cautious when dealing with individuals outside of your own country.

Who To Contact If You Suspect You’ve Been Victimized:

• Contact your financial institution immediately upon suspecting or discovering a fraudulent transfer.
• Contact law enforcement.
• Request that your bank reach out to the financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent.
• File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov , regardless of dollar loss. Provide all relevant information in your complaint.

A local resident reported some hazardous conditions relating to drug use at Davis Field at Lions Park and noted that it was potentially unsafe for children who use the field for soccer practice.To better protect the kids who use the field, the city has installed screens along the existing walls to deter drug use or paraphernalia from being left on the field.

In addition, city parks maintenance workers will conduct a manual foot sweep of the field each day to ensure it is safe for youth sports activities.

Costa Mesa Police officers recently attempted 19 residential home checks of Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS), Formal Probation and Gang Terms Probation offenders. Over the course of the evening, the team made multiple contacts, which included 21 offenders, 15 of whom were classified as being on formal supervised probation or were PRCS/Probation offenders living in Costa Mesa.

An additional six offenders on Supervised Gang Terms Probation were also contacted. The compliance checks resulted in 14 offenders being arrested for violations of conditions of their probation and/or new criminal law violations. Teams also assisted patrol on a felony battery investigation and searched a hoarder/unsafe nuisance house at 769 W. Wilson Street where they contacted 17 persons inside.

Code Enforcement will have to follow up due to numerous violations and safety issues at the home.

The public is invited to view some of Costa Mesa’s finest homes decked out for the holidays as well as the new Heroes Hall museum at the OC Fair & Event Center at the third annual Costa Mesa Home Tour on Dec. 1.

The event dubbed “Home for the Holidays” is presented by the Costa Mesa Middle and High School Foundation and takes place from 3 to 8 p.m. and will finish with a closing reception at the Room & Board store at SOCO.

Tickets to the event are $50 and proceeds will benefit high school arts programs as well as help provide transportation for Orange County students who are visiting Heroes Hall on field trips.

In addition to Heroes Hall, those taking part in the event will get to visit five local homes that are decorated for the holiday season.

Sponsors for this year’s event includes the City of Costa Mesa, Greenleaf Gourmet Chop Shop, Room & Board, Gatehouse, SOCO, Pottery Barn and realtors from RE/MAX and Star Real Estate.

For more information on the Home Tour please click here.

Below is a video of last year’s Home Tour

The OC Fair & Event Center  will celebrate the Nov. 11 Veterans Day holiday Friday with a public dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Heroes Hall veterans museum at 1 p.m. at the OC Fair & Event Center.

Heroes Hall at the OC Fair & Event Center will be a permanent, year-round museum with exhibitions, performances and educational programs that celebrate the legacy of Orange County veterans and others who have served our nation. The two-story exhibition space will rotate themes semi-annually with each focusing on an aspect of the personal stories and experiences of veterans.

The event free to the public.

The fairgrounds property was once part of the Santa Ana Army Air Base, a 1,300-plus-acre training facility active during World War II. Orange Coast College, Vanguard University, Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary School, Tewinkle Park and several commercial and residential areas are also on former army air base land.

The dedication ceremony will be a salute to local veterans and veterans groups including Vincent Okamoto – the most decorated Japanese American veteran of the Vietnam War and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge – and Santa Ana Army Air Base veterans.

Approved by the OC Fair & Event Center Board of Directors in 2014, Heroes Hall is expected to encompass more than 12,000 square feet with indoor/outdoor exhibit space. Crews broke ground in March and the former “Memorial Gardens,” a two-story, 5,000-square-foot WWII-era building, was placed on the site in April to house exhibitions.

Crews have been diligently working on the building and the surrounding courtyard which includes a 50-foot-wide centerpiece designed after the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military decoration that is awarded by Congress for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The City of Costa Mesa donated $50,000 toward the construction of Heroes Hall.

Attendees on Friday are also invited to attend the free Veterans + Labor Community Celebration scheduled at the OC Fair & Event Center on the same day from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Details for the community event are available here.

The Heroes Hall Veterans Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, provides fundraising support for exhibitions, education, programs and operation. Information about how to become involved and make a contribution is available at ocheroeshall.org.

For more information about Heroes Hall  visit ocfair.com/heroeshall.

Heroes Hall is at the OC Fair & Event Center, which is located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information about the event center, please visit ocfair.com, become a fan on Facebook.com/OCFair, follow us at twitter.com/ocfair or call (714) 708-1500.

In a push to position Costa Mesa as a desired tourist and conference destination spot, Council Member Katrina Foley was successful in getting a Maryland-based nonprofit that advocates for children and adults with attention-deficit disorder to hold its annual conference in Costa Mesa for the first time in its existence.

One of three Keynote Speaker of the CHADD conference, which takes place Nov. 10 through Nov. 12 at the Orange County Hilton in Costa Mesa, will be renowned sports agent and high-profile Orange County leader Leigh Steinberg.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to speak to this prestigious group of professionals and parents searching for solution and treatment for the ADHD diagnosis,” Steinberg said. “ADHD diagnosed individuals can be among the most productive and impactful members of our society.”

The nonprofit conference is the annual get together of the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or CHADD, which was founded in 1987 to help parents who have children with the disorder. The group claims up to 12,000 members nationwide.

“Organizations who choose to host conferences in Costa Mesa provide a significant impact to our city,” said Paulette Lombardi-Fries, President of Travel Costa Mesa. “Not only are they spending time in our hotels, they dine, shop and enjoy various arts and entertainment attractions only Costa Mesa offers, all of which enhances the economy and boosts tourism.”

Other keynote speakers are Luis Rohde, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and Sue Smalley, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at UCLA.

In addition, the attendees of the  conference will hear from some of the leaders in attention deficit disorder research, including UC Irvine Professor Jim Swanson.

“CHADD brings several experts to Costa Mesa, which provides an extraordinary opportunity to get an update this week at the 2016 Annual Meeting,” Swanson said. “In the Keynote Presentations, Research Symposia, and Workshops, some of the most credible local, national and international experts in the field will be discussing current controversies about ADHD.”

Swanson also said five groups from UC Irvine and Orange County will discuss local programs focused on a number of cutting-edge topics for innovative new treatment of ADHD.

According to the CHADD website ADHD is medically and legally recognized as a treatable yet potentially serious disorder, affecting up to nine percent of all children, and approximately four percent of adults.

The City of Costa Mesa’s second annual juried art exhibition, ARTventure, this year will feature a special tribute to coincide with Veterans Day, offering up free photographic portraits to those who served in the military.

ARTventure, which opens on Nov. 11 and runs through Nov. 13, is a fusion of art and entertainment that has expanded to two local venues at SoCo, Cisco Home and the Design Within Reach showrooms.

The Faces of Freedom project, which is run by photographer Jon Haverstick, will be on display during the ARTventure exhibit and veterans who attend on Saturday Nov. 12 can be photographed and become part of the exhibit.

“The Faces of Freedom Project is an ongoing effort to say ‘Thank You’ to the men and women of our military through the medium of portraiture,” Haverstick said in a statement.  “It features elegant black and white portraits of many of the patriots I’ve been privileged to meet over the past few years through a number of veteran outreach events.  Some are people you know. Some are homeless.  Some have passed away since their portraits were made for this project.  All have sacrificed for my freedoms.”

For the event, art is carefully paired with furniture, fixtures, and interior design elements, along with live entertainment featuring musical, theatrical, literary and culinary forms to heighten the artistic experience.

The event will begin with an opening reception and Awards Ceremony from 5:30 to 9 p.m. and that will include hors d’oeuvres and beverages and live musical performances.

Saturday’s festivities begin at 10 a.m. and run to 5 p.m. and will include a pottery demonstration by Costa Mesa High School students. Sunday’s events begin at 11 a.m. and run through 3 p.m. with a performance by the All American Boys Chorus to culminate the event.

Click here for a full schedule of events.