Costa Mesa Finance/Information Technology Director Bails

BOBBY YOUNG LEAVES COSTA MESA FOR PRIVATE SECTOR

The City of Costa Mesa, in an entry on their web page, HERE, announced to day that Bobby Young, Director of Finance and Information Technology, will leave the city on August 23rd for a job in the private sector.

GOOD FOR HIM!
This is NOT good news for the City, but is probably GREAT news for Bobby Young.  He's among the hardest working staffers in the city and, from my perspective, has done an admirable job of trying to keep up with the ever-shifting and sometimes unreasonable demands placed on him and his staff by the current council majority and respond to the inquiries of members of the public.

THANKS, AND GOOD LUCK
We here at A Bubbling Cauldron wish Bobby the very best and thank him for his dedication and professionalism over his 13 year tenure with the city.  He's a good man.

THE LAST OF MANY
Sadly for those of us in the city, Bobby's departure is just the most recent of senior staffers who have chosen to move on.  Starting wherever you like - with City Manager Allan Roeder retiring shortly after this council majority was seated, to Kim Brandt and Terri Cassidy leaving to Newport Beach, Peter Naghavi recently retiring to the south of France and now Young.  There are many more that could be listed - we may do that at a future date.  All that institutional knowledge and skill will be deeply missed.

"The Current" Launches Mon-Fri Print Product

DAY ONE FOR THE 5-DAY A WEEK CURRENT

The Current, the local edition that has been included with the Orange County Register on Fridays for subscribers in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, has now begun print publication five days a week - Monday through Friday - and today was the launch.  Unfortunately for me, my Register didn't include The Current today!  Arrgghh!  However, after one telephone call a copy magically appeared on my porch.  Now, that's customer service!  In the meantime, I'd snagged a copy from a local newspaper rack - an idea you should consider for this issue alone.

SUBSCRIBE!
As many of you know, because The Register now requires subscription to their online editions, some of you cannot see articles that I might link to here on this blog.  I encourage you to find a way to subscribe because new owner Aaron Kushner has spent a ton of money to revitalize his publication to the point that its really giving the Los Angeles Times a run for its money in Orange County.

COMPETITION FOR THE DAILY PILOT

 The Current, which will directly compete with The Daily Pilot in this market, has been gaining strength recently.  I suspect this is mainly due to the leadership of Editor Roger Bloom and his growing team.  The reporters who cover Costa Mesa and Newport Beach also work a broader geographical area and are doing a great job.

CURRY AND RIGHEIMER FACE OFF
Today The Current features a couple of commentaries by Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer and Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry.  If you're an online subscriber you can find it on page 7 of the E-version of The Current,  HERE.  The question asked of them was, "What can your city learn from your neighbor?".  The answers are telegraphed by the great image provided to The Register by artist Chris Morris, above.

CURRY
Curry uses his space to honestly compliment Costa Mesa for its shopping, diversity and arts venues.  He mentions that the two cities have exchanged some excellent employees, mentioning that Newport's community development director (Kim Brandt) came to them from Costa Mesa and that Costa Mesa's Police Chief (Tom Gazsi) and Interim Fire Chief (Tom Arnold) are both Newport Beach retirees.

He discusses Costa Mesas "financial mess" and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor's part in it, both during and following his tour as mayor in Costa Mesa.  He closes his message with the following paragraph:
"Both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are blessed with active, involved and passionate citizens.  In the end, it is the people who make each city unique and special. We learn the best lessons when we listen to them."

RIGHEIMER
Righeimer, for his part, uses the space provided to demonstrate his envy of Newport Beach and to, once again, use it as a platform to hype his plan for Costa Mesa to become a Charter City.

He opens his piece by telling us that as long as he's mayor of Costa Mesa he will never vote to raise dock fees or remove fire rings from the beach - clearly a backhand at our neighbors.  So much for a conciliatory message.

And, as a parting shot, his final paragraph reads as follows:
"Oh, and one more lesson learned from Newport Beach: I appreciate now, more than ever, our debt-free half-century-old City Hall."  Again, a backhand at Newport Beach for the dedication of their new Civic Center and Park.  Ah, our mayor - ever the class act.

GOOD LUCK TO THE CURRENT

So, welcome to The Current five days a week.  It's going to be very interesting to see how this move will impact The Daily Pilot - our newspaper of record for more than a century.  I think the competition will be great for both of them, and for the readers, too.

Yes, Costa Mesa, The Sky Is Falling...

HIRE LOCAL
Tonight I had intended to write a nice entry talking about the Fair Boards "Hire Local" program, HERE, which was kicked off at their meeting on Thursday by announcing the names of eight Costa Mesa students who have signed up for summer jobs at the Fairgrounds this year.

OC MARATHON
And I was going to tell you about the Orange County Marathon which runs Sunday. Rather than go into detail about that you can read about the Marathon course, HERE, the half-marathon course, HERE, the street closures HERE and more information for businesses and residents HERE. Suffice it to say, a big part of both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach is going to be hamstrung by this event on Sunday.


BRANDT BAILS - WHO CAN BLAME HER?
But my plans changed late this afternoon when I received word that after 23 years working for the City of Costa Mesa, Development Services Director Kimberly Brandt is departing for greener pastures. Her last day on the job in Costa Mesa will be, appropriately, Friday, May 13th. She is moving all the way across the fence to Newport Beach, where she will become their director of their newly created Community Development Department. Kim Brandt is a true professional and Costa Mesa's loss will certainly be Newport Beach's gain. We here at A Bubbling Cauldron do wish her well.

ONLY HATCH AND NAGHAVI LEFT
I'm very disappointed that we will be losing yet another excellent senior staffer, following in the wake of recently-departed Director of Administrative Services, Steve Mandoki, Recreation Director Jana Ransom and the retirement of icon City Manager Allan Roeder. In fact, following Brandt's departure the roster of department head positions remaining not occupied by contract personnel is down to two - City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch and Public Services Director Peter Naghavi.

20 COPS LEAVING, TOO!
Her departure was announced in the Daily Pilot in an article that featured the fact that more than 20 members of the Costa Mesa Police Department seem poised to depart, too. The article by Joseph Serna and Lauren Williams, HERE, includes a quotation from Mayor Gary Monahan that is so apathetic that I just can't bring myself to type it. Go the article and read it for yourself.

NOT APPRECIATED
Costa Mesa Police Association president Jason Chamness is quoted as saying, "It is my understanding that approximately 20 officers have applied to other departments and several have received conditional offers of employment from other agencies. In speaking with some of these officers, a significant motivating factor is a fear of layoffs." He added, "The training, experience and noble qualities of our officers make them highly desirable employees." After reading that last sentence I found myself adding, "in cities where those characteristics are appreciated."


MAY BE WORSE, TOO
In fact, this situation may actually be worse - I've heard a very recent rumor that the number is closer to 30 officers seriously looking for new jobs. It's like watching a bunch of parachutists bailing out of an airplane, for goodness sake. And who can blame them? Since last year, when Jim Righeimer made it clear that he was going after every single employee pension and took on the police association nose-to-nose in his campaign for City Council it was clear to every observer that this kind of exodus was possible.

HOW LONG?
I find myself wondering tonight, just four months into this new regime, just what it is going to take for the residents of Costa Mesa to get involved? What else must happen for them to realize that the direction this new City Council is taking our city is WRONG! How long is it going to take for them to realize that the hostile working environment created by the council majority - and led by Righeimer and Steve Mensinger - will chase out whatever number of employees that are left after their bogus outsourcing scheme is consummated? How long will it take for them to realize that Righeimer is just using this city, and its gullible voters, as a stepping stone to higher office? How long until they realize that he doesn't care what kind of a mess he leaves in his wake?

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
How long will it take for that council majority to realize that they cannot operate a city like some frat boys running a booster organization? How many lawsuits will it take? How many rules will they break before the residents of this town finally tell them to STOP!? What kind of a disaster is it going to take?