The Costa Mesa City Council is currently seeking residents to serve on City Committees. 

Application Process – Residents who are interested in getting involved in local government are encouraged to complete a Committee 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; 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., Monday, March 18, 2024. Appointments are tentatively scheduled for the April 2, 2024 City Council meeting.

The committees needing volunteers are listed below:

Animal Services Committee: This committee meets monthly and provides advice and recommendations to the City Council on animal services issues, promotes pet licensing, and assists with planning and execution of animal-related community events. The City is recruiting four members for a 2-year term. For further information, please contact Recreation Coordinator Jessica Torrejon at (714) 754-5128.

Active Transportation Committee: This committee meets monthly and helps plan and implement an Active Transportation network for the City by improving bicycle and pedestrian connectivity throughout the City. The committee also assists with the review, update and implementation of the city’s Active Transportation Plan and evaluates the bikeability and walkability for the City in order to make recommendations to the City Council. The City is recruiting six members for a two-year term. For further information, please contact Active Transportation Coordinator Brett Atencio Thomas at (714) 754-5275.

Finance and Pension Advisory Committee: This committee meets monthly and provides advice to the City Council on issues related to significant financial matters. The committee advises annually on the adoption of the City’s budget, the allocation of any budget surpluses, the City’s investment performance and policies, multi-year forecasts presented by City staff to the City Council, and adjustments under consideration at the time of the mid-year budget report. The City is recruiting four members for a four-year term. Applicants shall have pension knowledge or shall be residents or individuals that conduct business within the City and have a background that includes experience in securities trading, financial planning, banking, auditing, accounting, or a closely related and relevant field. For further information, contact Executive Assistant Dina Wild at (714) 754-5243.

Housing and Public Service Grants Committee: This committee meets twice a year and helps to promote understanding of the community development process and activities funded by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Additionally, the committee rates and ranks applications for CDBG public service grants, ultimately developing funding recommendations for City Council recommendations. The City is recruiting four members for a two-year term. For further information, contact Grant Administrator Mikelle Daily at (714) 754-5678.

Mobile Home Park Advisory Committee: This committee meets quarterly and addresses issues that will help improve the quality of life in mobile home parks and review matters concerning mobile home parks in the City. The City is recruiting for one park owner or their representative, two mobile home park residents, and one independent citizen at-large, all for a four-year term. For further information, contact Principal Planner Phayvanh Nanthavongdouangsy at (714) 754-5611.

Costa Mesa will unveil its new “Mariposa Garden,” the City’s first butterfly garden featuring the first City-funded public art project on Tuesday Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. on a hillside adjacent to Marina View Park located at 1035 W. 19th St.

The City’s Public Works crews planted eight different varieties of drought tolerant plants that are a mixture of naturalized and native plants. The flora is designed to attract a variety of butterflies, including the famous monarch butterfly that migrates 3,000 miles south for the winter from the western United States to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico.

Mariposa Garden is part of a larger Westside Restoration Project and West 19th Street corridor enhancements for the District 4 and District 5 neighborhoods. The project was launched to enhance neighborhoods, improve pedestrian and bicycle accessibility, repair aging infrastructure, and enhance lighting and safety. 

“The restoration of the Westside is an important goal for the community,” said City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison. “We are undertaking an overall revitalization of Costa Mesa’s Westside, promoting active transportation, providing an enriching environment, and creating more open space. Mariposa Garden will be a beautiful addition to that.”

The revitalization efforts address sidewalk and curb painting maintenance, an increase of visible trash receptacles, installation of artistic bike racks, maintaining the corridors’ light poles, and reducing speeds on 19th Street to make it bike and pedestrian friendly. Additionally, the City is investing in promoting the arts through place-making, murals and utility box art.

The Mariposa Garden will include a City-funded public art project that features four large butterfly sculptures and several smaller butterflies created by renowned artist Marisabel Bazan. The artist titled the sculptures “La Magia de Colleta.”

Bazan is known for her colorful organic artwork and public commissions such as the Dance of the Butterflies commissioned by the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission of West Hollywood and the Dream Big Collection at Times Square in New York City.

Work is underway to create additional butterfly gardens throughout the City in the coming months and years. Each garden will feature the word butterfly in different languages to embrace the diversity that exists in Costa Mesa.

City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison has presented the City Manager Leadership Award for January to the Police Department’s Property and Evidence Supervisor Barbara Carpenter.

“This is a critical job in the department when it comes to prosecuting those who commit crimes in our City. Her commitment to excellence, proactive approach to challenges, and dedication she has shown for our organization and those she has served before us, is one to be commended.  I very much appreciate her expertise in this area, and I am happy to present her with this award.”

Carpenter has been in this role for the past 13 years. Her career in Property and Evidence has spanned over 25 years, where she has made lasting impacts on the multiple agencies she has served. 

Carpenter is an active member of the California Association for Property & Evidence and has served as the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Carpenter initially began her near career as a Cadet with Westminster Police Department before serving as a Community Services Officer with the Newport Beach Police Department for 10 years.

She then transitioned into the world of Property and Evidence where she worked as a P&E Technician for the Tustin Police Department before being hired as a P&E Supervisor in 2010 with the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Carpenter has excelled in maintaining a well-organized and secure property and evidence facility. Her in-depth understanding of chain of custody protocols, ensures the integrity of evidence throughout the entire process and aids in the successful prosecution of some of the most violent offenders.

Most recently, Carpenter successfully managed a large-scale project to reconfigure the agency’s offsite P&E rooms as a result of grant funds awarded to our agency through Proposition 69. She and her amazing team successfully navigated the complicated logistics of remodeling a 2,000 square foot location.

That is no easy task to safely secure and move thousands of items of evidence that are critical to the mission’s success.  In addition, Carpenter has championed to procure new P&E software for the agency which was successfully adopted and will be implemented this coming year.

Carpenter holds a bachelor’s degree in family development and family studies from Cal State Long Beach

Due to the observation of Christmas Holiday, there will be no residential street sweeping on Monday Dec. 25.

No citations should be written on that day.

Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule, starting on Tuesday, Dec. 26.

Have a great holiday!

A large and cold Pacific storm is scheduled to arrive in Costa Mesa and the OC Region  today through Friday Dec. 22. Rainfall totals are anticipated to be 1 to 3 inches along the coastal regions, 1 to 2 inches in the valleys and 1 to 3 inches in foothills. This storm could bring strong winds and heavy rainfall. Thunderstorms and heavier rainfall rates are possible. Additional storms are possible through the Holiday week.

To assist residents, the city’s maintenance service crews have made sandbags available for free to Costa Mesa residents in the southeast corner of the City Hall parking lot at 77 Fair Drive. The location is self-service and bringing your own shovel is suggested as supplies could be limited. The number of sandbags is limited to 15 sandbags per household.

No commercial use please.

Click here for instructions.

City crews will patrol potential flooding spots to make sure catch basins are clear of debris and operational. Crews are also ready to respond to other weather-related incidents.

Please report flooding issues to 714-754-5252.

City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison presented this month’s City Manager’s Leadership Award to Brandon Nguyen, a Senior Programming Analyst in IT.

“I really appreciate Brandon’s positive attitude,” Farrell Harrison said. “He always treats everyone with respect and genuinely loves helping his co-workers. It was his dedication that helped ensure that our new Land Management System TESSA was successfully launched. I am happy to present him with this award.”

Nguyen started at the City of Costa Mesa IT department in October 2022 as a Senior Programmer Analyst. He was assigned to the LMS project, also known as TESSA, right away, and quickly became the key person with a deep understanding of LMS Data Conversion.

Since then, he had worked on a variety of tasks under the LMS Project. His projects include migrating legacy data to TESSA, building new reporting servers, and implementing and troubleshooting the LMS system. Nguyen’s onboarding and hard work with the other LMS team staff secured a successful implementation,

Nguyen came to Costa Mesa from the City of Westminster where he worked as a Senior Application Specialist. He successfully implemented and launched LMS for City of Westminster in 2020 and utilized his LMS experience in implementing Costa Mesa’s LMS project. 

He also implemented a variety of projects for the Westminster Police Department in 2021, including WPD Audit System, Follow-up System, and Homeless Outreach.

He is a hardworking and accountable person who is always ready to learn. He works well with the team to complete tasks on time. When a team project encounters a roadblock, he is excellent at proposing work-around solutions so his team has more time to work on issues and workflow is not impeded.

Nguyen is originally from Vietnam and moved to the United States in 2010. He earned an Associate of Science degree in Computer Science from Orange Coast College in 2012 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from UCI (University of California, Irvine) in 2014.

Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison is pleased to announce the appointment of experienced government executive and development services professional Cecilia Gallardo-Daly to be Costa Mesa’s next Assistant City Manager.

After a nationwide search, Gallardo-Daly, who was formerly the Assistant City Manager for the City of San Clemente, quickly became a top candidate for the position. Her years of experience in Planning, Economic Development, Building, Code Enforcement, Park Ranger Services and Homeless Outreach make her an outstanding fit for this role.

“Cecilia impressed us with her extensive record of accomplishments and nine years of executive management experience,” City Manager Farrell Harrison said. “She is results-driven and puts a premium on customer service, which is an important function of our work here. Her 28 years of experience in successfully managing complex and controversial issues and projects will make her a valuable asset to the City and the entire Costa Mesa community. I’m thrilled to have her join our team.”

Gallardo-Daly most recently served the City of San Clemente as the Assistant City Manager, and prior to that as the Community Development Director, where she was responsible for implementation of San Clemente’s vision and policy as it relates to land use, economic development, environmental and historic preservation and coastal resiliency.

She is also experienced in land-use planning, development project facilitation, architectural review, historic and environmental preservation, General Plan implementation, social service and housing programs and climate and adaptation planning.

“I’m pleased that Cecilia will be our new Assistant City Manager,” Mayor John Stephens said.  “Her years of experience in economic development, land-use planning and housing will enhance our talented City team. I look forward to working with Cecilia as we continue to improve the great City of Costa Mesa.” 

 Prior to joining the City of San Clemente in 2015, Gallardo-Daly worked as a Planning and Environmental Permitting Consultant for local agencies from 2001 to 2013.

Before that, she served in several capacities with the City of San Diego, holding the titles of Deputy and Assistant Director of the Development Services Department, Program Manager for the City Planning and Community Investment Department and Senior Planner.

She has also held planning roles for the cities of Austin, Texas and Rancho Cucamonga, Rosemead and Sierra Madre in California.

“I am very much looking forward to this great opportunity as I thrive in environments that embrace innovation, public service and customer service. I am eager to bring my creative skills, technical expertise and new ways of providing continued economic, cultural and social vitality to the City of Costa Mesa.”

Gallardo-Daly has a Master of Arts Degree in Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from UCLA.