The Los Angeles Chargers invited civic and business leaders to a welcome luncheon Monday Feb. 13 at the Center Club, where team Owner Dean Spanos, General Manager Tom Telesco and Head Coach Anthony Lynn spoke glowingly about the team’s future new home in Costa Mesa.

“There are two things that we put a priority on,” Spanos said. “The first is to put a winning team on the field, and the second, equally, is to be a part of the community.”

That message resonated well with Costa Mesa leaders who welcomed the team with open arms and presented Spanos with a key to the city and a Costa Mesa baseball cap in the color of the team’s iconic light blue jerseys.

In addition to members of the Chargers front office staff, two players from the team were also in attendance, running back Branden Oliver and fullback Derek Watt.

“I’m a football mom and I know what football brings to families,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “We are here to support you and make you feel at home. We are so thrilled to have the Charger family join our Costa Mesa family.”

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Joining Mayor Foley at the luncheon were Mayor Pro Tem Sandy Genis and Council Members John Stephens, Jim Righeimer, City Manager Tom Hatch and Several members of the city staff.

The Chargers’ new headquarters will be a leased building in the Hive office complex in north Costa Mesa on Susan Street. The team also plans to create a training facility on a 3.2 acre property next to the site.

General Manager Telesco said the team and the team’s front office employees will become integral parts of the Costa Mesa community, getting involved with city events and even having family members take part in youth sports.

“Every day but game day, we’ll be in Costa Mesa,” Telesco said.

And Lynn, who was recently named head coach, echoed that.

“I believe in being part of the community,” Lynn said.

Charger announcer Josh Lewin, the emcee of the event, said it was no mistake that the team made Costa Mesa its new home.

“They didn’t just leave and happen to land in Costa Mesa,” he said. “They scouted Costa Mesa, they met with Costa Mesa city leaders and it was only then that they decided to call this town home.”

The City of Costa Mesa received its first round of school board approved athletic facility grant requests from the school district last week.

Some of the improvements at Estancia High include new bleachers for the multipurpose fields, various sports training equipment and all new outdoor basketball rims and nets for the exterior courts.

Newport Harbor is requesting a new scoreboard for their Varsity Baseball field.

More grants are slated later in the year for Costa Mesa High School

City of Costa Mesa Principal Planner Minoo Ashabi attended the FAA on John Wayne Airport flight changes meeting on Wednesday Feb. 1 that was held at Newport Beach Oasis Senior Center.

The meeting was well attended and set up as an open house. There were  two stations where residents could get the noise readings at their properties using this Google Earth application. 

The arrival and departure routes have been published and will be fully implemented by April of this year.

As far as noise impacts to east Cost Mesa, there seems to be a pattern of slight decrease (0.1 dB variations); this is based on their noise model and assumptions of full compliance with the latest arrival and departure patterns.

As a new winter storm moves through today and potentially another on Friday, Public Safety and Public Works crews urge residents to drive safely, watch for downed trees and power lines and be prepared for potential flooding.

Residents who are in need of assistance are encouraged to call the city’s non-emergency line at 714-754-5252.

As always, in the case of emergencies, downed power lines or other life threatening issues, please dial 9-1-1.

Click here to see how to contact Southern California Edison or call 1-800-611-1911 to report power outages.

Sandbags are also available for residents to deal with potential or real flooding problems.

The city offers a self serve process at the Southeast corner of the parking lot at City Hall located at 77 Fair Drive where residents can get up to 15 sandbags.

There are signs on Fair Drive that will direct you to the location.

Please visit City Hall as our primary location for sandbags, or if we are out of sand, you can obtain sandbags at Fire Station No. 4 located at 2300 Placentia Ave.

Click here for information on how to prepare sand bags.

Furthermore, the agency “211 OC” is also poised to help coordinate assistance. 211 OC has an around the clock phone line to help with all types of emergencies and provides regional connection to resources for disasters victims, the homeless, and others needing health and human services.

Information about 211 OC can be found at www.211OC.org or by simply calling 2-1-1.

Around 4:00 p.m. Friday, Southern California Edison closed a lane on westbound Victoria Street between Newport Boulevard and College Avenue to conduct emergency repairs due to a downed power line.

Currently, several residents and businesses are out of power.

The repairs are expected to take approximately three to four hours.

Costa Mesa Finance Department staffers are celebrating the news that they have won two awards for their work on the Fiscal Year 2016-17 Operating Budget.

The Government Finance Officer’s Associations recently announced that the City of Costa Mesa has received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the second year in a row.

In a statement from the GFOA, the award represents a significant achievement for the City of Costa Mesa’s Finance Department and is the greatest form of recognition in governmental budgeting an organization can earn.

In addition to this prestigious honor, the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17 earned the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers Certificate of Excellence Award.

The award is recognition of meeting the program’s required criteria and established professional standards in financial reporting and is a true testament to the hard work being applied.

A big congratulations to the Finance Department staff for their continued dedication and ability to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation and their excellence in financial reporting.

KASA Construction, Inc. has been contracted by the City of Costa Mesa to perform the construction of the Median Landscape and Irrigation Improvements Project on Mesa Verde Drive north of Adams Avenue.

The project entails the removal of grass from the existing medians and replacement with drought tolerant landscaping coupled with a new, efficient irrigation system.

Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin Monday, Feb. 6, 2017 and is anticipated to be completed in May of 2017.

Working hours will be from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Lane closures may be in place within the limits of work between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on an as needed basis.

Please exercise caution at all times on or around the construction job site to ensure the safety of staff, other drivers and yourself.

Your cooperation in observing all traffic control requirements and traffic regulations will be greatly appreciated and will assist in ensuring the safe and expeditious completion of construction.

The construction work will be subject to weather and may be delayed accordingly.

We thank you for your continued cooperation and assistance in making this much-needed project a success.

If you would like to discuss this project with the Contractor’s staff, please contact their office at (909) 457-8260.

If you would like to discuss this project with City staff, please contact our office at (714) 754-5029.

The Commission Appointments have now been rescheduled to take place during the Feb. 7, 2017 regular City Council meeting.

Interviews of the Planning Commission applicants will still take place at 5:30 p.m. today, Jan. 31, in City Hall Conference Room 1A.

The Fire & Rescue staff has happily reported that 16 community members recently graduated from the CERT training hosted by Greenleaf Mobile Home Park.

Participants learned skills in preparedness, fire safety and utility control, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue techniques, homeland security awareness and disaster emotional first aid.

Members of the instructional team included Fire Capt. Fred McDowell and Costa Mesa Police Lt. Vic Bakkila as well as volunteer instructors, Georgette Quinn, Cindy Brenneman, Dee Chester and program manager Brenda Emrick.

The next CERT class will be offered in March.

City Manager Tom Hatch named Itzia Carvajal as the latest to receive the City Manager Leadership Award during the monthly employee Meet and Greet on Thursday Jan. 26.

A Principal Human Resources Analyst, Carvajal joined the City of Costa Mesa as an HR Analyst in 2014 after working in Santa Ana in Parks & Recreation, Community Development, Planning & Building and Personnel Services.

Carvajal oversees the daily functions of the Risk Management Section, which includes administering the City’s Workers’ Compensation Program as well as Benefits Administration Program, where she has worked to streamline and improve the administrative process.

Carvajal, who was promoted to Principal Analyst nearly a year ago, is recognized by her colleagues as a consummate professional and credible resource who possesses a strong work ethic, a high level of customer service and enhanced organizational skills. She has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Sociology from the University of Riverside and in her spare time enjoys camping with her husband.

In addition to Carvajal, Hatch welcomed two new buyers to the Finance Department, Therese Combs and Nina Naranjo as well as Marianna Pena as a new Recreation Coordinator and Maria Urquiza Sanchez as a new Recreation Leader III for Parks and Community Services.

He also congratulated several employees for being promoted, including Lauren Clark, who was promoted from Recreation Leader to Office Specialist in the Finance Department as well as Matthew Schmelzel, who was promoted to Treasury Specialist.

Also honored were Ashley Ocasio who was promoted to Recreation Supervisor as well as Raja Sethuraman, who was promoted to Public Services Director.

On Tuesday Jan. 18, City Manager Tom Hatch gave a presentation to the Mesa Verde Community Inc. to update the group on several city initiatives.

Hatch brought them up to speed on the Fire Station No. 1 replacement efforts and noted that the groundbreaking for the new station will take place on March 11, 2017 with completion scheduled for the following spring of 2018.

He also told the group what was going on with the Lions Park improvements which includes a new library and community center. Hatch also gave updates on the new City Council, the Mesa Verde medians, city staffing, the homeless and the news that the Chargers are moving the team headquarters here.