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.
Southern California Edison has announced it will perform maintenance on electrical systems in areas throughout Costa Mesa. For this to be done safely, power will temporarily be shut off in some areas.
This needed maintenance will allow SCE to make necessary upgrades and repairs that will increase reliability.
Below is the anticipated power outage schedule:
Monday, March 26, 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., Outage Boundary: Londonderry across Fairview Road (eight residential customers affected).
Wednesday, March 28, noon – 3 p.m., Outage Boundary: Santa Ana Ave – 18th St. (11 residential customers affected) .
Thursday, March 29, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., Outage Boundary: Sunflower Ave South side – East of Smalley St. (446 residential customers affected).
Please be advised that power may be turned off for the whole period or may be turned off more than once.
For questions, please call 800-611-1911.
The Parks and Community Services Department and the Cultural Arts Committee are currently working with Arts Orange County to complete an Arts and Culture Master Plan.
The master plan will serve as a tool that will guide the development of arts and culture related projects, programs and initiatives in the City and will help to personify Costa Mesa as the “City of the Arts”.
An important part of the Master Plan process is to hear from the public regarding ideas, visions, hopes and wishes for the City’s arts and culture future!
The public is invited to participate via in-person forums and focus groups as well as through a short on-line survey, found here. Public outreach sessions are scheduled for:
Tuesday, March 27, 6 p.m. Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th St.
Wednesday, March 28, 7:30 a.m., Costa Mesa City Hall Conference Room 1A, 77 Fair Dr. (Coffee & light refreshments provided)
Thursday, March 29, 12 p.m., Balearic Community Center, 1975 Balearic Dr. (bring your own lunch)
Thursday, April 5, 6 p.m., Kaiser Elementary School MPR, 2130 Santa Ana Ave.
Friday, April 6, 1-5 p.m., Costa Mesa City Hall Conference Room 1A, 77 Fair Dr. (drop-in office hours)
Saturday, April 7, 10 a.m., Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th St.
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 Lions Park Projects construction continues and scheduled milestones are being met.
The steel reinforced concrete foundations, and infrastructure for water, sewer, gas and power utilities for the new library have been surveyed and constructed.
The structural steel frame system for the building has been erected, welded, bolted, inspected, and secured in place. The framework for the large, oval shaped sky light above the future staircase is taking form. The aesthetic arches of the building’s exterior are now visible.
On March 7, the concrete for the library’s first floor was constructed, including all utility penetrations, elevator pit and connections to its adjacent vertical components. On March 19, the concrete for the second floor of the building was placed. Underground storm drain construction is also underway for the new, one-acre park.
Improvements on the Bristol Street Project has achieved a new milestone. Striping of the newly paved section of Bristol Street between Baker Street and Randolph was completed and all median curbs have been installed.
A traffic signal was installed at the intersection of Bristol Street and Sobeca Way, at the CAMP and Pep Boys driveways.
This newly installed signal will allow for controlled crossing of pedestrians between the east and west sides of Bristol Street and improve traffic operations. Traffic engineers will be monitoring this location and adjusting the signal timing as needed to coordinate with other traffic signals in the vicinity.
Landscaping and irrigation improvements will be completed over the next four weeks.
As a fierce spring storm approaches and is expected to hit Costa Mesa and Orange County beginning early Thursday March 22, the City of Costa Mesa will provide residents with free sand and sand bags in the southeast corner of the City Hall parking lot at 77 Fair Drive.
The National Weather Service predicts the storm could bring as much as 1 to 2 inches of rain to coastal and inland Orange County areas.
Maintenance Services staff will also be patrolling potential flooding spots to make sure catch basins are clear of debris and operational and standing by to respond to other weather-related incidents.
Sand and sand bags are also available at Fire Station No. 4, located at 2300 Placentia Avenue.
Both city hall and the fire station are self-service location with shovels available for use, and the number of sandbags is limited to 15 sandbags per household.
No commercial use please.
For more information on sandbags click here.
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.
Public Services is working closely with the Communications and Marketing team to share updates on the city’s major Capital Improvement Projects.
A few of the City’s large projects include the Bristol Street Improvements Project, the Lions Park Projects, the Arlington Drive Improvements Project, and the Fire Station No. 1 Reconstruction.
As part of this collaboration, there is a new webpage available at www.costamesaca.gov/CIP that features some new project fact sheets.
Visit this webpage for frequent updates.
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.
With inclement weather expected beginning this event March 1 through Saturday March 3, the City of Costa Mesa will provide residents with sand and sand bags at Fire Station No. 4, located at 2300 Placentia Avenue.
It is a self-service location, with shovels available for use, and the number of sandbags is limited to 15 sandbags per household. No commercial use please.
Maintenance Services staff will also be patrolling potential flooding spots to make sure catch basins are clear of debris and operational.