Author Archive
November 3rd, 2009, 2:49 pm by Jennifer Muir
The good news: Nearly 100 laid-off Orange County Social Services Agency employees will get their jobs back.
The state has increased funding for Medi-Cal, food stamps and CalWORKs programs, pumping an unexpected $9 million back into the county agency, CEO Tom Mauk reported today.
The bad news: The county is getting the money because of increased case loads in those programs. In the past year, Medi-Cal recipients in Orange County have increased by 30,000. Food Stamps enrollment has increased 22 percent, adding 39,000 residents. And CalWorks, or welfare, programs have grown locally by 13 percent, adding 9,700 people.
The 99 employees who will be rehired include 20 social workers for CalWorks, 55 eligibility technicians and employment eligibility specialists, and supervisory staff members. None will be managers. The hiring process will begin Friday.
Posted in: Supervisors | 32 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 10:59 am by Jennifer Muir
Union supporters filled the seats at today’s county supervisors meeting to protest a new ordinance that bars the county from requiring union agreements on county construction projects.
The ordinance barring so-called project labor agreements, which supervisors had to consider a second time today before it could become law, doesn’t actually change county policy. But Supervisor John Moorlach proposed formalizing the policy to make it more difficult to reverse by future boards of supervisors.
Still, about 100 union supporters rallied before the meeting and filled the seats of the supervisors meeting to protest, arguing that such agreements ensure high-quality, on-time results and good working conditions for construction workers.
“This ordinance is a direct slap in the face, showing absolutely no respect to the workers of Orange County,” said Jim Adams, a representative for the LA/OC Building & Construction Trades Council. “It’s a bold political move.”
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Posted in: Supervisors • Uncategorized | 18 Comments »
October 27th, 2009, 7:13 pm by Jennifer Muir
Supervisors voted unanimously this afternoon to create an ordinance barring the county from requiring union agreements on county construction projects.
The ordinance doesn’t change a longtime county practice - an effort they say was aimed at encouraging competition - it only makes it more difficult to reverse.
Still, a standing-room-only crowd of union and nonunion workers, leaders and advocates were there to lobby the board on the issue.
So what does it all mean and why were they discussing it today?
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Posted in: Supervisors | 5 Comments »
October 27th, 2009, 6:03 pm by Jennifer Muir
Former Assistant Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson made a surprise appearance this afternoon at the board of supervisors meeting, promoting an idea to remove county jails from the sheriff’s department’s control and establish a new correctional agency to run them instead.
Anderson was speaking during public comments at the end of today’s meeting, and his three-minute time limit ran out before he could finish describing his proposal: Remove 95 percent of jail guards and replace them with non-sworn officers.
You might remember that former Sheriff Mike Carona appointed Anderson in 2008 when he resigned. (An earlier version of this post erroneously said Anderson was appointed by supervisors.)
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Posted in: Sheriff • Supervisors | 115 Comments »
October 27th, 2009, 3:14 pm by Jennifer Muir
Orange County supervisors voted this afternoon to explore the possibility of acquiring the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
Supervisors Bill Campbell and John Moorlach will head a committee charged with looking into the county’s options, the county clerk reported after a closed-session meeting.
Earlier this month, the state’s Department of General Services officially put the 150-acre site up for sale to help shrink the state’s budget deficit.
A nonprofit led by former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, has already announced plans to bid on the land — in an effort to keep the fairgrounds in local hands.
Campbell has expressed a desire to maintain the property as a fairgrounds. And he’s also expressed some concern over it being run by a nonprofit, which he says “may not have the same level of transparency as a public agency.”
“I believe that it’s a public asset, that things should be done in the light of day in the public,” Campbell recently told Register reporter Ellyn Pak.
Posted in: Supervisors • Orange County fairgrounds | 14 Comments »
October 20th, 2009, 1:13 pm by Jennifer Muir
If you thought this year was rough for the Orange County Sheriff’s department, which has slashed it’s budget by more than $20 million this year, just wait till next year.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens told supervisors today that she’s bracing to cut some $65 million from next year’s spending plan as $42 million in one-time revenue sources dry up and tax revenue collected under Prop. 72 decreases by some $24 million.
And if the sheriff’s department can’t secure a contract to house federal inmates by next year, the shortfall will top $70 million.
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Posted in: OC Government • Supervisors | 118 Comments »
October 6th, 2009, 5:30 pm by Jennifer Muir
A $2 million grant for the county’s crime lab will allow investigators to expand the use of DNA to solve property crimes and help reduce the turn around time for processing DNA.
That’s according to a presentation today by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who oversees the DNA portion of the county’s crime lab alongside the sheriff and county CEO.
“This is a big step,” Rackackas said.
The money will pay for four forensic scientists, a legal property technician, a property technician and an office specialist, as well as buy new equipment such as laser swab cutters, extraction robots and software data analysis system. Rackauckas said the cash will give the crime lab the capacity to analyze more samples for high-volume property crime cases from 3,800 cases in 2008 to 26,000 in 2011.
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Posted in: Sheriff • Supervisors | 2 Comments »
October 6th, 2009, 12:44 pm by Jennifer Muir
Supervisors this morning gave the go-ahead to plans for staffing a new type of non-sworn jail guards despite protest from the sheriff’s union president who said the plans could compromise the safety of inmates and guards.
Supervisors voted 4-1 to move forward with the program — part of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’ plan to trim costs by replacing sworn deputies at the jails with less expensive civilians. Today’s vote gave a blessing for the department’s plan to staff the first 50 Correctional Services Assistant jobs and assign a general representation unit under the Orange County Employees Association.
UPDATED 10/7/09: Chip Monaco, chief of staff for Chairwoman Pat Bates, called this afternoon to clarify the supervisor’s position. She voted against moving forward, and Monaco said the supervisor was concerned that putting the new guards in a non-public safety bargaining unit. She wanted to evaluate union claims that jail workers would have more protections and the county’s liability would be reduced if the new guards were represented by the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.
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Posted in: Sheriff • Supervisors | 50 Comments »
October 5th, 2009, 5:55 pm by Jennifer Muir
Behind-the-scenes debate over the newly created civilian correctional officers to staff Orange County jails could come to a head in public tomorrow.
That’s when supervisors are expected to take a look at plans for staffing the new Correctional Services Assistant positions and consider a human resources recommendation for which labor unit should represent them.
Hint: It’s not going to be the union that’s been slugging it out in court with the county to protect lucrative pension benefits for its members, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.
AOCDS president Wayne Quint said this afternoon that he doesn’t care who represents the new guards. He plans to tell supervisors tomorrow that he’s against the new positions because they put inmates and his deputies at risk. The jail needs more sworn staff in the jails, in addition to ancillary staff members who can free up deputies, he says. It doesn’t need non-sworn officers instead of deputies.
“They have completely thrown out the safety of inmates and of my deputies to save a buck,” Quint says. “This is very frustrating and confusing to me. ”
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Posted in: Uncategorized | 40 Comments »
October 1st, 2009, 5:39 pm by Jennifer Muir
A group of community activists in Fullerton have made good on their promise to sue the city over its recent expansion of a redevelopment zone.
Friends For Fullerton’s Future and resident Tony Bushala are seeking to block the city’s expansion of a redevelopment zone, which adds 1,164 acres in hopes of bringing in some $533 million over 45 years to fund affordable housing, a shopping center and other improvements there.
Redevelopment agencies use a portion of property tax money to partner with private developers to encourage development of housing and commercial projects to improve so-called blighted areas.
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Posted in: OC Government • OC cities • Supervisors | 18 Comments »
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