The OC Public Works department has begun work on the Lower Santa Ana River Sand Management project. The project involves removing up to 840,000 cubic yards of accumulated sand in the lowest 3.5 miles of the Santa Ana River to maintain design flood protection. Beach compatible sand will be taken to various beaches within Orange County for beach nourishment. This is a reoccurring maintenance project that was last done by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2004/05.

This current maintenance effort began late August/early September this year and will take about six months to complete. As part of the 2004/05 maintenance work and this current work, the county’s contractor needs to close off the east bike path between PCH and Victoria/Hamilton bridge to the public because the contractor will be using this reach of the bike path for access to adjacent staging areas and access to equipment within the river. The west side bike path/trail will remain open. The contractor will prepare and implement a bike/pedestrian detour plan.

A bike detour plan sign will be installed at various locations along the Santa Ana River east levee. The metal sign will be installed at both ends of the closure and three locations upstream for advance notification to trail users. The county will post this detour map on the OC Parks website and OC Public Works website to inform the public of the upcoming closure. This sign is in addition to the DETOUR and TRAIL CLOSURE signs installed at both ends of the closure.

Adopt a friend fur-life, like Mabel. She is a sweet 6 pound Chihuahua with a calm and quiet demeanor. She is the sort that would love to spend her days cuddled up on a lap or just hanging out.

Contact the Orange County Humane Society for more information and to schedule your visit with Mabel today.

Students and teachers at Mariners Christian School are not deterred in their goal to help their peers on the other side of the world.  As of June 2016, they had collected $25,000 for Christ the Center Ministries in Gulu, Uganda, to build two classrooms in their brand new middle school, as well as support their feeding program.  In year two, their goal is to help build a chapel and auditorium as part of the new school in Africa.

Middle School Principal Heather Harrison is encouraged that this service project is continuing in its second year – prompted by the students themselves. Mrs. Harrison had met with the United States Directors for Christ the Center Ministries based in Uganda, and learned of their vision to provide educational opportunities for the very least in a third world area and the powerful mission of their faith-based organization.  Harrison’s original vision for this effort did not include two consecutive years of partnership.

The enthusiasm is just as strong among students and staff at MCS in this second year.  To kick off the fundraising, MCS is hosted a “Lunch on the Lawn” event on Friday, September 23, where families were invited to join their students for lunch.  Proceeds from the event will directly benefit the school in Gulu.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to continue teaching our students to look beyond their current ‘world’ and see how Christ’s love through them can impact others,” commented Head of School Troy Moore.

 This year marks the 30^th Anniversary of the Community Emergency Response Team program and to celebrate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency partnered with California Volunteers, NBC Universal, and other CERT partners across nation to host a National CERT conference in Universal City earlier this month.

CERT Program Coordinators from Costa Mesa (Brenda Emrick), Newport Beach (Matt Brisbois), Huntington Beach (Brevyn Mettler) and Laguna Beach (Jordan Villwock) were an integral part of the National CERT Conference and have all played key roles in the success of CERT.

The recent CERT conference provided an opportunity to pay tribute to the contributions of the extraordinary community volunteers locally and across the globe, as well as an opportunity to recognize the leaders of the CERT programs they serve locally, and at the state and national levels.

“Brenda, Matt, Brevyn, and Jordan have individually and collectively gone well above and beyond to represent our respective agencies and the communities we serve in an exemplary manner,” Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano said.  “We are extremely fortunate to have this talented foursome working together to train and develop our CERT volunteers to assist our first responders in making our communities and the entire region more actively prepared for any emergency or disaster.”

CERT program partners from throughout Orange County in fire and law enforcement have supported and taken part in state-sponsored instructor training courses and are assets in the development of citizen preparedness drills and exercises to improve and enhance the resiliency of the people in Orange County.

There are more than 28 Orange County city-sponsored CERT programs including Teen, Campus and Workplace programs registered on the National CERT website. Orange County CERT programs have been recognized nationally by FEMA for their training, best practices activities, and program organization.  For additional information on a CERT program near you, please contact your local fire department or law enforcement agency.

The city of Costa Mesa has launched an online interactive Road Condition Map for residents and commuters to lookup road conditions and future streets rehab schedules on City streets.

Click here for the map and a tutorial on how to use it.

The Road Condition Map application shows streets in different colors based on 2015-2016 road condition PCI (Pavement Condition Index).

The results rated from Very Good (blue) to Very Poor (red).

Commuters can highlight the street and click to see details on the road condition and future rehab schedule for that specific street segment they selected.

This application is created by city staff members from the Public Services Department and Information Technology Department.

Road condition information and future rehab schedule are part of the city’s over all Capital Improvement Projects (CIP).

All information will be updated annually or sooner when there is an update.

Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger presented the Mayor’s Award to Randy Barth, the founder of THINK Together’s Shalimar Learning Center on Costa Mesa’s Westside, which for 22 years has helped tutor and teach young students in this low income neighborhood.

“You made such a huge impact on so many people,” Mayor Mensinger said as he presented the award at the City Council meeting Tuesday Sept. 20. “We are grateful as a city to have people like you who make a difference. You are a true community partner and we are proud to have you in Costa Mesa.”

THINK Together, the largest nonprofit after school program in the state, began on Shalimar Drive back in 1994 in response to a gang shooting in the neighborhood where some of the local moms asked for a safe place for their kids to study afterschool.

Working with community moms, Catholic priest Jerome Karcher and members of the St. Andrews Presybyterian Church, Barth was able to secure a room in an apartment complex and THINK Together was born.

Today THINK Together serves several hundred thousand children in after school programs in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties as well as children in the Bay Area near San Jose. Barth announced Tuesday that his organization is beginning a capital campaign to build a new community center on Shalimar Drive.

“We appreciate the city’s partnership through the years,” Barth said. “It wasn’t an easy project to get off the ground, but it’s been, we think, mutually beneficial. We thank you for your leadership and support.”

Beginning Monday Sept. 26, Costa Mesa Sanitary District will conduct mostly night operations to install a new pressure sewer main (force main) from the west side of the Harbor/Wilson intersection to the east side of the intersection to increase reliability and life expectancy of the sanitary sewer system. The force main is a critical component of the infrastructure and the method of construction is the least disruptive of the available options for installation.

The project will last approximately four weeks and the majority of the work will be performed during night time hours in order to minimize disruptions. Sewer service will not be interrupted during the project, however, traffic impacts will occur and residents and businesses are encouraged to use the pre-arranged detours. The District and its contractor will attempt to minimize inconveniences and complete the work in an efficient and expedient manner. The District apologizes in advance for any noise and inconveniences that may occur.

A combination of sound fiscal policy and a thriving retail environment, along with expenditures lower than anticipated for a variety of factors, has resulted in a significant budget surplus of an estimated $11 million for the City of Costa Mesa.

At the end of the last fiscal year on June 30, 2016, the city’s revenues totaled more than $122.5 million while expenditures were $111.4 million. That surplus represents 9 percent of the total revenues.

 “We have made concerted efforts to keep our spending under control while still providing great customer service to our residents by rebuilding our older infrastructure, investing in new capital improvement projects and hiring top-level staffing in city departments,” said Mayor Steve Mensinger.

The mayor called this a proud moment for the City of Costa Mesa.

 “A significant amount of hard work, difficult decisions and favorable business conditions have resulted in this environment for success,” he said. “Many people deserve thanks for their contributions, especially my fellow council colleagues, commissioners, city staff, the business community and Costa Mesa residents.”

Indeed, the City Council now has the opportunity to determine where to allocate the surplus money and could follow its established policy of using surplus funds to increase reserves, reduce pension debt and increase expenditures on capital projects.

The process for the last two years has been for staff to bring a recommendation to the City Council’s Financial Advisory Committee around November or December and the City Council review the Committee’s recommendation as part of the council’s Mid-Year Budget Review in February.

Based on the City Council’s policy and based on prior budget discussions, staff will likely recommend that the committee increase the general fund reserves by $2.66 million, which will immediately allow the city to reach the Council’s $55 million reserve goal.

The council can also recommend a number of measures, including paying down pension debt and other debt obligations as well as funding projects and enhancing various community priorities.

Maintenance Division staff, in coordination with CleanStreets, recently performed pressure washing on 19th Street to clean up areas that were becoming increasingly dirty and unhealthful. And in recent weeks, the city has also worked Clear Channel to clean up some of the bus benches and shelters throughout the city, which had also become health hazards.

For the early morning pressure washing, City workers picked up all the debris left from the homeless prior to washing. Also, using two graffiti trucks, CleanStreets accomplished quite a bit in two hours prior to the start of rush hour.

They pressure washed the soup kitchen area, which was extremely filthy and covered in gum, and then pressure washed the entire length of west bound 19th from Meyer to Pomona, which included The Tower.

They then pressure washed the east bound sidewalk from the Senior Center all the way to McDonald’s. Most of the wash water was directed into the adjacent City shrub planters, with the sweeper picking up any water that went into the street in the areas without landscape. While the city did its best with the steam cleaner, it was only able to remove small amounts of the gum that had accumulated.

Everything was completed in two hours. Residents with street sweeping requests are encouraged to call 714-327-7471 or the Street Sweeping Hotline (Parking Enforcement): 714-754-5290.

At the council meeting this Tuesday on Sept. 6, Mayor Steve Mensinger honored the players and coaches of the Costa Mesa American Little League with the Mayor’s Award.

The award comes on the heels of the league knocking off its rival Costa Mesa National Little League in a two game sweep at the annual Mayor’s Cup.

The American League was not only looking to defend its title from last year, but also to avenge a 2-1 loss to the Nationals in the District tournament. The mayor and council honored both teams on Tuesday.

“We have two great little leagues in Costa Mesa and we are not only proud of all the players and coaches, but of all the parents and volunteers that make Little League baseball such a great experience for the families of this community,” Mayor Mensinger said.

The Mayor’s Cup takes place every year following the District 62 All Star tournament where the two Costa Mesa leagues face off in a best of three series.

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One of the main focuses of the City’s new Pet Committee is engaging the Humane Society on a regular basis to continue to build our relationship and ensure a safe home for Costa Mesa’s temporarily homeless animals. One way we are working to accomplish this is the relaunching of the Pet of the Week Program. On Thursday staff visited the shelter and selected its first star.

Cleo short for “Cleopatra” is a 5-year-old lab mix. She has smooth black fur and amber eyes that dazzle just about everyone she meets. Cleo is very polite, walks well on a leash and knows her basic commands. Despite being at the Humane Society for far too long, Cleo has kept her spunk and always has a smile on her face. She is spayed and ready to move into her Fur-ever home.

Come visit with Cleo today. For more information on Cleo or other available pets for adoption please visit the Orange County Humane Society located at 21632 Newland Street in Huntington Beach or call (714) 536-8480 or visit the website at www.ochumanesociety.com.

On July 1, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the No Place Like Home program (AB 1618, Chapter 43, Statutes of 2016). This program will distribute $2 billion among counties as deferred payment loans to finance capital costs of permanent supportive housing for persons who are eligible for services under Proposition 63 (2004) and are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness.

The Legislature intends that that the loans will not have to be repaid. This funding program is critical to aid in the effort to end homelessness. California has an estimated affordable housing shortage of more than one million homes. Funding provided by the State for the development and preservation of affordable homes dropped by 79 percent, from approximately $1.7 billion annually to nearly nothing today.

The No Place Like Home program marks the State’s first effort to reinvest dollars into housing for the homeless in recent history. The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will administer the program in consultation with an advisory committee. This committee comprises directors of various state departments including HCD and Health Care Services Department as well as county administrative officers, a representative of an affordable housing organization and an administrative officer of a city.