New City Council Members To Be Sworn-in Tuesday

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
The recently-elected Costa Mesa City Council members - Sandy Genis, John Stephens and Allan Mansoor - will be sworn-in at a Special Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, December 13, 2016, beginning at 5:45 p.m.   You can read the full agenda for that meeting HERE. 

PUBLIC COMMENTS RESTRICTED
Public Comments will be restricted in this special meeting to items on the agenda only.

GREEN'S SHOW...
City Clerk Brenda Green will manage the only item on the agenda, #1, HERE.  She will acknowledge the certification of the election by the Registrar of Voters and tell us that the  total number of ballots cast in this election was 43,721.  Total registered voters in Costa Mesa according to the Registrar of Voters is 54,888, so 79.65% of the voters participated, slightly less than Orange County as a whole.  She will announce the names of the three people who secured a seat.

THE BALLOT MEASURES
She will then certify the status of each of the eight (8) items on the ballot.  According to the staff report, here are the final results:

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES
Measure V -  14,937 For; 24,565 Against (39,502 Votes Cast -  90%)
Measure W - 16,501 For; 22,695 Against (39,196 Votes Cast -  89.6%)
Measure X -  21,470 For; 17,845 Against (39,315 Votes Cast -  89.9%)

GROWTH MEASURES
Measure Y - 26,132 For; 12,081 Against (38,213 Votes Cast - 87.4%)
Measure Z - 20,506 For; 16,258 Against  (36,764 Votes Cast - 84%)

FAIRVIEW PARK MEASURES
Measure AA - 27,098 For; 11,149 Against (39,247 Votes Cast - 89.7%)
Measure BB - 17,591 For; 20,289 Against  (37,880 Votes Cast - 86.6%)

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS/DIRECTLY-ELECTED MAYOR
Measure EE - 23,295 For; 12,495 Against (35,790 Votes Cast - 81.8%)

RECOGNITION
According to the staff report, there will be a recognition of outgoing Mayor Steve Mensinger and Councilman Gary Monahan and each will be given the opportunity to speak, although Monahan already did his thing at the last meeting.

THE OATH
Green will then administer the oath to the three new council members, which will be followed by the nominations for Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem.

COMMENTS, THEN ADJOURNMENT
Apparently there will also be time for Council members' reports, comments and suggestions, followed by adjournment until the first meeting in January.

CITY MANAGER AND 9/80 - A GREAT START!
By the way, change is already happening.  Tom Hatch announced that he will no longer be known as the CEO of the City - he will be City Manager, the title he should have had for the past almost six years.  And, the Miscellaneous Employees will soon return to the 9/80 work schedule they had before Righeimer/Mensinger took over.  This is GREAT news for them, and for the city, because it provides us with a competitive recruitment tool.  Kudos to Hatch for these moves.

Election Results Now Official

 OFFICIAL RESULTS

THE NUMBERS ARE NOW OFFICIAL
Late today the Orange County Registrar of Voters website was amended to show the following:

NO CHANGES FROM YESTERDAY
Yep... those results we gave you yesterday are now official.  I scrolled down through the important races in our neck of the woods to confirm that none had changed overnight.  You can read all those results again HERE.

KUDOS TO ALL
Congratulations to all of you who worked hard on campaigns this time around.  It was a lot of work, with lots of doors being knocked upon and lots of face-to-face encounters with voters on many issues.

CONGRATS TO SANDY, JOHN AND ALLAN
Congratulations to Sandy Genis for being the top vote-getter in the City Council race, and to John Stephens for trailing her by only a few votes.  Congratulations to Allan Mansoor for regaining a seat on the City Council, defeating Mayor Steve Mensinger by 525 votes.  Adios, Steve.  A little humility is good for everyone.... especially someone with such a big ego.  And, to Lee Ramos and Al Melone - what the heck were you thinking?  Oh, yes... to Dave Ellis... pffffttt!

KUDOS TO COSTA MESA FIRST!
Congratulations to the good folks of Costa Mesa First and all of you who walked precincts to gather signatures and speak to voters in support of Measure Y, the Smart Growth Initiative.  You fended off the misleading counter measure, Measure Z with an overwhelming victory.

AND KUDOS TO THE FAIRVIEW PARK PROTECTORS
Congratulation to the hardworking folks of the Fairview Park Preservation Alliance and all the others who worked tirelessly to gather signatures for Measure AA, and who pounded the pavement to gather votes.  You did an absolutely astounding job, convincing almost 71% of the voters to support that measure.  I'd like to tell you to relax, but I don't think you can... yet.  Thank you for your dedication.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA STRATEGY FAILED - BIG TIME
I cannot decide if the failure of both Measures V and W, the two citizen-generated Medical Marijuana measures placed on the ballot when sufficient signatures were gathered, is good for the city or not.  My first thought is that we're better off without medical marijuana dispensaries - that "medicine is available next door in Santa Ana.  And, since Prop. 64 passed, getting "medicine" on the open market seems to be a moot issue.  I was amused that Measure W ran an expensive campaign, complete with big-time television adds that included Lee Ramos and many others.  I'm also amused that both Gary Monahan and Dana Rohrabacher supported that measure and it lost soundly at the polls.

WHAT DOES MEASURE X REALLY MEAN?
I'm not sure what to think of the passage of Measure X, the so-called counter measure created by the City to fight off the other two Medical Marijuana measures.  This one passed, but has no retail sales element... only manufacturing, distribution, testing, etc. , and restricted only to a very small section of the north part of town.  We're told that wannabe pot mogul Jim Fitzpatrick has been skulking around City Hall, trying to find space in town for his clients.  He'll have plenty of time on his hands now.

ABOUT MEASURE EE - SORRY....
To those of you who voted for Measure EE, the Vote-by-Districts measure that Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer hijacked and turned it into something not a single participant in the outreach meetings preferred - not a single one- I apologize.  They chose a 5-district model, which carved out a Latino district and would have given that demographic a chance at a level playing field.  Righeimer hijacked it and turned it into a 6-district model and included a directly-elected mayor.  Nobody wrote an opposing position for the voters pamphlet.  My fault - I should have done it.  Such is life.  Now we will just have to be sure he doesn't continue to manipulate this process in his favor.

TO THE MESA WATER DISTRICT BOARD... PFFFTTTT!
To those of you who were snookered by the Mesa Water District Board into voting in support of Measure TT, the meaningless advisory measure that posits that it's a good idea to combine Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, I'm sorry you fell for it.  This measure has no weight of law behind it and, although it "passed", it means nothing at all in the grand scheme of things.  Combining those districts is just a power grab - the Mesa Water District Board is spending your ratepayer dollars like a bunch of drunken sailors and can see the cash in the bank at the CMSD.  Don't let them continue to fool you as this moves forward.

BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Both the Coast Community College District and Newport Mesa Unified School District races were won by incumbents.  Personally, I'm OK with the Coast College District results, but am disappointed that we won't see any new blood on the NMUSD Board.

GOOD MOVE FOR THE CMSD
To those who overwhelmingly returned Jim Ferryman and Art Perry to their seats on the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board - good for you!  Their totals certainly reflect a demand by the electorate to move forward with experienced leadership in that organization and ignore the screeches of loud-mouthed losers like Jim Fitzpatrick - who just couldn't shut up prior to the race and has become a mute since -  and worn-out Gary Monahan.  Good move, folks.

HARD TO GET EXCITED ABOUT THE SACRAMENTO "WINS"
I'd like to be very enthusiastic about the victories for Matt Harper in the 74th State Assembly race and John Moorlach in the 37th State Senate race, but it's hard to get too excited when you realize that the California legislature now has a Democrat Supermajority in both houses - which means that they no longer even have to listen to the Republicans voted into office.  Both of those men will have a very difficult time making any kind of significant impact on the process in Sacramento.

AND THEN THERE'S DANA...
 Dana Rohrabacher, who, once again, soundly defeated a Democrat challenger, Dr. Suzanne Savary.  Since Orange County is no longer a sure thing for Republicans, I suspect this might just be Dana's last gasp.  I expect to see a Democrat challenger with real political chops start to surface after the first of the year, and Dana will have his hands full next time.  Heck, he might become Secretary of State in a few days - who knows?  Arrgghh!

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
So, how do we interpret this election locally.  Well, a strong argument could be made for the view that the voters of this city have had enough of the heavy-handed, single-minded, almost dictatorial regime guided by Jim Righeimer and Mensinger - with Monahan the willing dupe and guaranteed third vote.  The overwhelming passage of Measures Y and AA tell us that the voters just don't trust the old majority to do what is right for the community and took it into their own hands to protect our neighborhoods and Costa Mesa's "Jewel", Fairview Park.  And, they said NO to Medical Marijuana sales in our city in an overwhelming fashion.

A NEW ATMOSPHERE ON THE DAIS
So, next Tuesday evening in City Council Chambers at City Hall the new council members will be sworn-in and new leadership on the dais will be elected.  I, personally, have no idea how those elections will go, but I suspect neither Righeimer nor Mansoor will be guiding the city for the next couple years.  That will be good for the city.  We DO need THEIR voices on important issues - each provides a different perspective - and it will be good for the city to actually have real, meaningful discussions on issues for a change.  Righeimer has pledged a more collegial tone.  I believe him.  Let's get on with it...

Yes, The Fat Lady Is Singing...(Amended)

LOOKS LIKE WE'RE DONE
The Orange County Registrar of Voters, Neal Kelley, and his hardworking staff apparently have completed their task and the final ballots have been counted.  What you see below is what we get.  There is no indication of any subsequent reporting to be made.  Now we await him to send out the notices to the individual districts and cities regarding the results.  However, the fat lady, she is a'singing...  Speaking of which, click on the image below and sing along as you read the results.
ASTOUNDING TURNOUT!
According to the ROV page, HERE, there are 1,535,967 registered voters in Orange County.  of those, 1,239,405 (80.7%) of them actually cast ballots - an astounding number!

THIS SHOULD BE IT!
So, dear readers, here are what should be the FINAL numbers for this 2016 General Election for races that are important to us Costa Mesans.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
Only a couple votes were added to these numbers today.  Sandy Genis continues to lead John Stephens - now by 222 votes.  Stephens leads Allan Mansoor by 2,682 votes.  Mansoor leads Mayor Steve Mensinger by 525 votes for the final seat.  Mensinger has surpassed Jay Humphrey by 190 votes.  Lee Ramos and Al Melone are far, far behind.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Both incumbents, Jim Ferryman and Art Perry, have been re-elected.  Perry has defeated Gary Monahan for the second seat available by 4,707 votes.  Jim Fitzpatrick and Christopher Luntsford trail the field.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Fisler has soundly defeated challenger Alex Reich.

GROWTH ISSUES
Measure Y, the citizen-generated Smart Growth Initiative, has passed with 68.4% of the votes -  a more than 2-1 margin.  Measure Z, the City-generated measure designed to fool the voters, has also passed, but by a much smaller margin.

FAIRVIEW PARK ISSUES
Measure AA, the citizen-generated initiative created to protect Fairview Park from development, is passing by much more than a 2-1 margin - almost 71% of the votes cast.  Measure BB, the City-generated measure designed to fool the voters, has failed.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES
Both citizen-generated Medical Marijuana issues, Measures V and W, have failed at the ballot box by significant margins.  Measure X, the City-generated measure that has no retail sales element, only manufacturing, testing, distribution in a small section of the city, has passed.

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS
This measure, hijacked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer to ignore the will of the people and add 6 districts and a directly-elected mayor to the mix, has passed.  Shame on Righeimer for diluting the potential Latino vote by this deception.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CMSD BY MESA WATER
This meaningless advisory measure, placed on the ballot to fool the rate-payer of Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District into thinking the combination of those two organizations is a good idea, has "passed".  It means nothing and was, once again, a waste of rate-payer dollars by the Mesa Water Board.  No wonder they want to get their hands on the CMSD cash!

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
All incumbents in these races won - handily.

NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
All incumbents in these three races won, too.

74TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Matt Harper has defeated Karina Onofre.

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
John Moorlach has defeated Ari Grayson.

48TH UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
Dana Rohrabacher has defeated Dr. Suzanne Savary.

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT? (AMENDED)
The Registrar of Voters page has not updated these numbers, and show no counter as to when the next report will be made, so we're assuming that ALL votes have been counted.  There were only 152 left to count at the beginning of this day.  Now we wait for Kelley to post that "Final Results" note on his page and certify the races.
(AMENDED)
Kelley's mininons finally got this segment updated, so I'll post the individual entries here so you can archive the results.  Indeed, there are NO MORE BALLOTS LEFT TO COUNT:
Total estimated number of ballots counted (After Election Day): 416,994
Total vote-by-mail ballots counted: 98,806
Total provisionals counted: 130,300
Total Vote-by-mail ballots returned at the polls counted: 146,674
Total election day paper ballots counted: 27,014
Total Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots received after Election Day: 14,200

NEW COUNCIL TO BE SWORN-IN ON DECEMBER 13TH.
So, that's it for this cycle.  The new members of the Costa Mesa City Council will be sworn-in at a special meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 and new leaders - Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem - will be selected.  Here's something for all of us to contemplate as we think back on this election.

Only 152 Ballots Remain To Be Counted!

MONDAY SHOULD BRING FINALITY TO THIS ELECTION SEASON
While you all enjoyed this glorious Southern California weather today, Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and his merry band of minions were busily counting the votes that remained in the November 8th election.  As of 5:00 p.m. this evening there remain only 152 ballots left to count.  The next report will be Monday, December 5th after 5:00 p.m.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
There WILL be a change on the Costa Mesa City Council.  Sandy Genis continues to lead in this race, holding an edge over John Stephens of 224 votes.  Allan Mansoor, trailing Stephens by 2,681 votes, has secured the third seat in this race,  and holds a 527 vote margin over Mayor Steve Mensinger.  Jay Humphrey is 191 votes behind Mensinger and Lee Ramos and Al Melone trail the field.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Incumbents Jim Ferryman and Art Perry both hold commanding leads in this race for two seats.  Both were sworn-in earlier this week despite the fact that this race has not yet been certified by the Registrar of Voters.  Gary Monahan is 4,736 votes behind Perry.  Jim Fitzpatrick and Christopher Luntsford trail the field.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Fisler has defeated challenger Alex Reich.

GROWTH MEASURES
Nothing has changed in these two races.  Measure Y, the citizen-generated Smart Growth Initiative, is passing by a 2-1 margin.  Measure Z, the City-generated measure designed to confuse the voters, is also passing, but by a much smaller margin.

FAIRVIEW PARK MEASURES
Measure AA, the citizen-generated initiative designed to protect Fairview Park from development, is passing by a huge margin - much more than 2-1.  Measure BB, the City-generated measure placed on the ballot to confuse the voters, is failing badly.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEASURES
Both citizen-generated medical marijuana sales initiatives, Measures V and W, are failing badly at the polls.  Measure X, the City-generated measure with NO retail sales element, ia passing.

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS
This measure, hijacked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer in direct opposition to what the residents preferred, creates 6 voter districts and ADDS a directly-elected mayor.  This measure may not meet the requirements of the settlement agreement since it dilutes the Latino vote.  We'll see.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CMSD BY MESA WATER
This meaningless advisory measure placed on the ballot by the Mesa Water District Board to try to fool the voters into thinking the combination of Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District is good business - it's not.

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
All incumbents have won their seats back by large margins.

NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
All incumbents in these races have secured their seats again.

74TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Matt Harper has soundly defeated Karina Onofre.

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
John Moorlach has defeated Ari Grayson.

48TH UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
Dana Rohrabacher has crushed Dr. Suzanne Savary.

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT?
Esitmate of Ballots Left to Count - 152
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Left to Count - 28
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Returned at the Polls Left to Count - 43
Provisionals Left to Count - 81
Election Day Paper Ballots Left to Count - 0
Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots Received After Election Day Left to Count - 0

YES, THE FAT CHICK IS GARGLING NOW...
So, it looks like one more day of counting to go.  With only 152 ballots remaining, it's very likely that Kelley's warriors will complete their task on Monday.  I have no idea whether the votes will be certified shortly thereafter or not.  It's clear that the above numbers represent a done deal in all races.  Mayor Steve Mensinger is OUT.  Righeimer succeeded in fooling the voters with Measure EE.  The Mesa Water Board will whoop and holler about their "mandate" from the voters to take over the CMSD, when it's not true.  The voters knew that was an advisory measure, with nothing really on the line.  So, we will be tapping our toes until 5:00 p.m. Monday - the next time a report is scheduled to be made.