If you thought masks weren’t cool in Orange County, think again.

All of Orange County’s 34 mayors have teamed up to send a message to residents, businesses and visitors: “Mask up to open up OC!”

The message comes in a video featuring Orange County’s mayors socially distant and masked up at iconic locations across Orange County.

You can see it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IXroRLLaIQ

Sites include Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the Tustin Hangars, Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, Laguna Beach’s Festival of the Arts Amphitheater, Los Alamitos Race Course and Yorba Linda’s Birthplace of Richard Milhous Nixon.

The 34 mayors:

• Aliso Viejo: Mayor Mike Munzing
• Anaheim: Mayor Harry Sidhu
• Brea: Mayor Marty Simonoff
• Buena Park: Mayor Fred Smith
• Costa Mesa: Mayor Katrina Foley
• Cypress: Mayor Rob Johnson
• Dana Point: Mayor Richard Viczorek
• Fountain Valley: Mayor Cheryl Brothers
• Fullerton: Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald
• Garden Grove: Mayor Steven Jones
• Huntington Beach: Mayor Lyn Semeta
• Irvine: Mayor Christina Shea
• La Habra: Mayor Tom Beamish
• La Palma: Mayor Peter Kim
• Laguna Beach: Mayor Bob Whalen
• Laguna Hills: Mayor Janine Heft
• Laguna Niguel: Mayor Laurie Davies
• Laguna Woods: Mayor Noel Hatch
• Lake Forest: Mayor Neeki Moatazedi
• Los Alamitos: Mayor Richard Murphy
• Mission Viejo: Mayor Brian Goodell
• Newport Beach: Mayor Will O’Neill
• Orange: Mayor Mark Murphy
• Placentia: Mayor Ward Smith
• Rancho Santa Margarita: Mayor Bradley McGirr
• San Clemente: Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ferguson
• San Juan Capistrano: Mayor Troy Bourne
• Santa Ana: Mayor Miguel Pulido
• Seal Beach: Mayor Schelly Sustarsic
• Stanton: Mayor David Shawver
• Tustin: Mayor Allan Bernstein
• Villa Park: Mayor Robbie Pitts
• Westminster: Mayor Tri Ta
• Yorba Linda: Mayor Beth Haney

The video drives home that across diverse Orange County, we are all in this together and must work together to keep fighting coronavirus in our communities.

As Orange County’s COVID-19 case numbers and testing positivity rates continue a dramatic decline, we’re moving toward gradual reopening of more businesses and activities.

But, as we do so, wearing masks will be more important than ever to ensure we maintain our progress, keep our cases low and prevent another shutdown.

The OC mayors’ promotional video debuts Friday, Sept. 25, on social media throughout Orange County as well as on local TV stations.

The video is produced in partnership with the Orange County Mayors coalition and the Orange County School for the Arts.

For more information on coronavirus in Orange County, visit https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/.

Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano has been officially sworn in as the new president for the California Fire Chiefs Association (CalChiefs), becoming the first chief from Costa Mesa to hold that post and the first from Orange County in over 20 years.

Stefano will now lead the state organization that represents more than 800 fire agencies operating throughout California, including a nine-person executive board, an additional 12 area directors to complete the full board, as well as eight professional sections, covering the spectrum of all areas related to Fire, Rescue, EMS, and Community Risk Reduction activities. He remains the president of the Orange County Fire Chiefs Association, a role he has held for the past two years.

“The California fire service has never been more in alignment and unified on the critical issues we are facing today, as evidenced by our advocacy and legislative successes over the past few years.” Stefano shared. “Our talented CalChiefs leadership team will continue to build on our strong partnerships and highly valued relationships from the local level to the Capitol, in thoughtfully setting the stage for the best possible outcomes for the communities we all serve and for all of those who we serve together with, shoulder to shoulder, to that end.”

City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison congratulated Chief Stefano on this key appointment.

“Those of us who work daily with Chief Stefano are keenly aware of his strong leadership, dedication and professionalism,” Farrell Harrison said. “But it is even more impressive that the chief’s peers in the fire service have elected him to lead this statewide agency. We congratulate him on this major achievement.”

Mayor Katrina Foley also praised Chief Stefano’s leadership.

“Chief Stefano is a true public servant,” Mayor Foley said. “During this pandemic, his calm, steady, and stable leadership served our council, fire department and city well. As we transition out of the COVID-19 crisis, and manage the devastating wildfires across the state of California, his servant leadership will benefit the region and state.  We are honored to support him in this new role.”

Chief Stefano said he is humbled that his colleagues chose him to lead this organization at such a critical time as firefighters across the state battle historic wildfires. Further, he said while he welcomes this new role, his dedication to the Costa Mesa Fire team and community remains his top priority.

Chief Stefano was elected to CalChiefs last year and had been serving in the role of president elect until his formal installation took place on Sept. 10.  The last fire chief from the Orange County region to lead CalChiefs was Newport Beach Fire Chief Tim Riley in 1998.

Stefano, who grew up in neighboring Newport Beach, has served as the fire chief for Costa Mesa since 2013. Prior to that he served the Laguna Beach Fire Department for nearly two decades.

On Tuesday, the City Council officially proclaimed the month of Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month.

The City of Costa Mesa will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by launching a virtual program, featuring  the profiles and stories of Hispanic City leaders, City Employees and business owners that chronicles their contributions to the community.

Council Members Manuel Chavez, Arlis Reynolds and Andrea Marr, who were elected in 2018 and became the first members of the City Council of Hispanic heritage, will be featured in the campaign.

“The Hispanic community has deep roots in the City of Costa Mesa,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “Today, residents of Hispanic and Latino origin represent 36 percent of the City’s population and by celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month we encourage all Costa Mesa residents to increase their cultural awareness and learn the important role that our Hispanic and Latino community has played in contributing to our City’s prosperity.”

In addition, the campaign will feature City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison, who in July of 2019 became the first Latina to hold the top job in the City of Costa Mesa.

“It is my honor to be the City Manager of a city with such a strong Hispanic heritage,” Farrell Harrison said. “For many years, the Hispanic community has enriched the City of Costa Mesa through their resilience, spirit, vibrancy, leadership, investments, and entrepreneurship, advancing the many successes of our richly diverse City. This is a proud day for Costa Mesa.”

The virtual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration will take place in both English and Spanish languages and will be viewable on the city’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on Aug. 17, 1988.

State officials announced that Orange County officially moved off the Purple Tier, the highest and most restrictive level on the blueprint for reducing COVID-19 in the state, and into the Red Tier as of Tuesday Sept. 8, allowing restaurants, places of worship, movie theaters and gyms to reopen some indoor operations with restrictions.

“This is great news for our entire community,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “Also, it is proof positive that our hard work has paid off by socially distancing and wearing masks. Let’s stay the course and get to the next tier and get us back even closer to our normal lives.”

According to the state website https://covid19.ca.gov/ schools can re-open in a systemwide manner (without a waiver) once a county is in the Red Tier for at least two weeks. There will then be a 14-day wait for all K-12 schools in Orange County to be eligible for re-opening in-person education, which will put our county schools on track for Sept. 22.

A listing of some of the activities and businesses now re-opened and/or expanded today are as follows:

• Restaurants
  • May re-open for indoor dining with modifications
  • Capacity must be limited to 25 percent or 100 people, whichever is less
  • Must close every night by 10 p.m.
• Places of Worship
  • May re-open indoors with modifications
  • Indoor activities must be limited to 25 percent of capacity or 100 people, whichever is less
• Shopping Centers
  • May re-open with modifications
  • Indoor capacity must be limited to 50 percent for shopping malls, destination shopping centers, and swap meets
  • Common areas are closed
  • Reduced capacity shopping center food courts (see Restaurants guidelines for more details)
• Retail
  • May re-open with modifications
  • Retail capacity must be limited to 50 percent
• Hair Salons and Barbershops
  • May re-open indoors with modifications
• Personal Care Services (nail salons, body waxing, tattoo parlors, piercing studios, skin care & cosmetology, and massage services)
  • May re-open indoors with modifications
• Gyms and Fitness Facilities
  • May re-open indoors with modifications
  • Capacity must be limited to 10 percent
• Movie Theaters
  • May re-open with modifications
  • Capacity must be limited to 25 percent or 100 people, whichever is less
• Family Entertainment Centers
  • May re-open outdoor only with modifications for activities such as go-kart racing, mini golf, and batting cages
• Wineries
  • May be open outdoors only with modifications
• Museums, Zoos and Aquariums
  • May re-open indoors with modifications
  • Indoor activities must be limited to 25 percent of capacity

For more on what this means for Costa Mesa and the County, please visit https://covid19.ca.gov.

Due to the observation of the Labor Day holiday on Monday, there will be no residential street sweeping Sept. 7  through Sept. 11, 2020.

This coincides with the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, which also observes this holiday by pushing trash collection back one day.

This results in residential gutter lines being cluttered with trash cans making it impossible for street sweeper operators to do an efficient job. There should be no parking citations issued during this time.

Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule the week of Sept. 14.

In lieu of sweeping streets, the following are a list of task that clean streets operators will be conducting next week.

• City wide alley street sweeping
• Sweeping of park parking lots and other city owned facilities
• Accident call outs and special request
• Night route sweeping on all arterial streets

For more information, residents can call the city’s street sweeping hotline at (714) 327-7471, which has been updated with this information.

The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District has confirmed the first mosquito samples infected with West Nile virus (WNV) in the City of Costa Mesa.

Surveillance traps were set in the area of Fairview Park. Inspectors will be out in the area to check known sources of mosquito breeding and try to identify any unknown sources.

Click here for a map.

“West Nile virus positive mosquito samples indicates that the virus is active in Orange County and there is an increased risk for residents to become infected with WNV through a mosquito bite,” said Robert Cummings, Director of Scientific Services for Vector Control.

West Nile virus is most commonly spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. There are no confirmed cases of human infections currently in Orange County.

To learn more about West Nile virus visit: https://www.ocvector.org/west-nile-virus

Mosquito control is a shared responsibility. Orange County residents need to do their part to control mosquito breeding around their properties and prevent bites.

Eliminating mosquito breeding sources is critical to preventing the spread of West Nile virus:
To prevent mosquito bites, take action and follow these tips:
· Dump and drain containers filled with water at least once a week
· Clean and scrub bird baths and pet water bowls weekly
· Dump water from potted plant saucers
For more information on how you can help reduce the risk of WNV in your community, visit www.ocvector.org.

OCTA Crews will install pre-cast concrete girders for the Fairview Bridge over I-405, requiring full closures of 405 Freeway during early morning hours starting Saturday Aug. 29.

The girders are the main horizontal support beams, known as the superstructure, for the new bridge. They are installed across the bridge’s substructure, the abutments and center columns. Pre-cast girders are used instead of installing falsework and pouring the superstructure in place.

This work will require northbound (NB) and southbound (SB) full freeway, lane and ramp closures, as well as the closure of Fairview between McCormack Lane and South Coast Drive. Residential access will be maintained.

Click the links below for map detours.

Local detours.

Freeway detours.

Click to see closures and detours on the interactive map

Closures are set for:

Night One
As early as 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, to 9 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30
Night Two
As early as 10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, to 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1
Night Three
As early as 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, to 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2*
Additional Nights: 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. for several weeknights.

*SB I-405 will be closed, and access to NB I-405 will be maintained.

Some activity also may occur during the day.

Mayor Katrina Foley joined County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel, County Supervisor Andrew Do and members of 360 Clinic to welcome the addition of the new COVID-19 testing super site at the OC Fair & Event Center.

Also at the event was County of Orange, California CEO Frank Kim and County Public Health Officer Clayton Chau and Costa Mesa Mayor Pro-Tem John Stephens, Assistant City Manager Susan Price and Congressman Harley Rouda.

The new super site, a joint venture between the City of Costa Mesa, the County of Orange and 360 Clinic, is the second largest in the state next to Dodger Stadium and will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is expected to test 500 people a day in the first week. Tests will be available by appointment only at https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/supersite and for individuals prioritized for testing by the California Department of Public Health:

Santa Ana, Calif. (August 25, 2020) – Just six weeks after opening the Anaheim Super Site, the County of Orange announced today a second Super Site opening at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on August 26.

360 Clinic will be conducting no-out-of-pocket cost testing leveraging personal insurance reimbursements and federal government assistance for the uninsured, with additional financial support from the County.

“I’m so pleased that we are opening this new test site to offer additional convenient access to testing for our residents, particularly for those within my district,” said Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel, Second District. “Testing is one of the keys to our ability to slow the spread of the virus and still go about our business of getting back to work and enjoying life in our community.”

“This new site in Costa Mesa bolsters our local testing capacity, enabling more symptomatic and asymptomatic Orange County residents within priority groups, to access free contactless testing with quick turnaround times on results,” said Vice Chairman Andrew Do, First District. “To make our testing network better still, the county is establishing a call center and making website registration options accessible in multiple languages to ensure that all residents, no matter their primary language, have equal access to vital testing services.”

Tests will be available for individuals prioritized for testing by the California Department of Public Health:

• People with symptoms
• Close contacts with people known to have COVID-19
• Healthcare workers, first responders
• Residents and employees of congregate living facilities
• Essential workers (grocery store, food supply, utility workers, public employees and teachers)

“There are three key messages we want to convey to people who may have been reluctant to get tests – particularly at our super sites,” said Third District Supervisor Donald P. Wagner. “1. Wait times in your car are generally no more than 30 minutes. 2. The tests are self- administered, safe, easy and pain-free. 3. Results are available in 24 to 48 hours so you can quickly determine whether you test positive for COVID-19 or not and plan accordingly.”

“We are committed to continuing to offer testing options to our residents that are easy and convenient for all of Orange County’s residents. Tests are just one tool in our arsenal to beat the novel coronavirus, but it’s a powerful tool,” said Fourth District Supervisor Doug Chaffee.

Fifth District Supervisor Lisa A. Bartlett added, “Our goal is to do everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 including making it as easy and convenient as possible for residents to get tested. The addition of the Costa Mesa Supersite will hopefully bring us one step closer to achieving that goal. The more options that are available for people to get tested and get results in a timely manner, the quicker we can mitigate the spread of the virus. In addition to the extensive test site locations, we’ve launched major marketing, advertising and community outreach campaigns centered around the importance of protecting yourself and each other by wearing a face covering, washing hands frequently and staying six feet apart.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley added, “We know that mass testing with prompt results combined with mask wearing and social distancing is necessary for our kids to return to in-person school and our business community to reopen. This Supersite, the second largest in California, opens up another path on our road to recovery. We are grateful that the City of Costa Mesa and the OCFair will host and support this important public health program.”

“The good news is that our seven day daily case count is going down compared to where we were in July. This is especially encouraging given the additional testing capacity we’ve added,” said Orange County Director of the OC Health Care Agency and Acting County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau.

Orange County residents who meet the Public Health criteria may register online starting today at https://360clinic.fulgentgenetics.com/. Participants will be asked to provide their contact information along with their health insurance information (if they have it) while selecting their appointment date and time. Once a resident has successfully registered, they will receive a confirmation text or email. They will be required to show this confirmation on the date and time of their registration in order to be tested.

Starting on Wednesday, August 26, the Costa Mesa Super Site will operate Mondays– Fridays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Questions can be directed to 360 Clinic representatives at (800) 446-8888. More information about testing as well as other testing sites across Orange County may be found at: ochealthinfo.com/covidtest.

More Information:

• OC Health Care Agency Network of Testing, visit com/covidtest
• To find out what to do while waiting for test results or if a COVID-19 test is positive, go to com/protecteachother

Media Contacts:

Molly Nichelson
County of Orange
Cell: (714) 788-8060
Molly.Nichelson@ocgov.com

Tony Dodero
City of Costa Mesa
Cell: (949) 922-8726
Tony.Dodero@costamesaca.gov

Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison announces the appointment of Carol Molina, a 21-year veteran of municipal government, as the City’s new Finance Director.

“I am excited to appoint Carol as the City’s Finance Director. She has served as the Acting Finance Director since April and has successfully guided the Finance Department and the City’s annual budget process during a very difficult time.” Farrell Harrison said. “Her expertise in budgeting and financial management, labor negotiations, and best practices in financial management have proven to be great assets for Costa Mesa.”

Mayor Katrina Foley is also enthusiastic about the news of Molina’s appointment.

“Carol is an experienced and proven leader. I believe she is the right person to lead our Finance Department at this critical time. She has already confirmed her value to the organization with her recent efforts to guide us through the adoption of the 2020-21 budget in the middle of a pandemic,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “We welcome her as an official member of our executive leadership team.” 

Molina has been with the City of Costa Mesa since the beginning of 2020, when she joined the team as the City’s Budget and Purchasing Manager prior to taking on the role of Acting Finance Director in April.

Molina has a wealth of experience in budgeting and financial management with both full-service and general law cities including the cities of Santa Ana, Mission Viejo, and Huntington Beach. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for budget management and excellence.  Her emphasis on long-term financial sustainability and success in managing complex budgets render her uniquely qualified to manage the City’s finances in such a critical time.

Costa Mesa’s Finance Director is responsible for all aspects of the City’s financial management, including oversight of the $160 million budget, payroll, purchasing, audits, financial reporting, and overall fiscal policy for the City. 

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be selected for this position and thankful for the opportunity to work with the City’s skilled and talented team.  My experience in municipal finance, along with the knowledge I’ve gained working for the City of Costa Mesa, has prepared me to lead the Finance Department as we embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead.” Molina said.

Molina holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the University of California, Davis.