City Manager

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The Bell City Hall pay scandal touched down in Orange County on Tuesday, when former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was arrested at his home. Silent and with his head down, Rizzo, 56, was taken from his home in handcuffs Tuesday morning, one of eight current or former Bell city officials accused of misappropriating funds by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Rizzo is charged with 53 counts of conflicts of interest and misappropriating $5.5 million in city funds.

It's not often that municipal employees go out of their way to publicize their salaries. So when Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff wrote an open letter Aug. 4 explaining what he and the City Council earn, Daily Pilot editors were happy to publish it. Curious residents now understood more about their public servants' compensation in the wake of the Bell salary scandal . And as some of those residents surely did, the Pilot also clicked...

COSTA MESA — A Costa Mesa department head who recently received a layoff notice from the city is leaving the job to become city manager for Lawndale in Los Angeles County. Steve Mandoki, Costa Mesa's administrative services director, handed Chief Executive Tom Hatch his resignation Tuesday after six years with the city. On Monday, Mandoki and Lawndale's City Council came to an agreement over his contract during a closed session, said Dan Bartelson, assistant to Lawndale's city manager.

Alicia Robinson Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau has given himself a long list of tasks for the coming fiscal year, and he hopes to top it with a feat of political deal-making. His highest priority has been in the works for about three years -- forging an agreement with Orange County to give the city more control over John Wayne Airport, take over the Santa Ana Heights Redevelopment Agency and annex West Santa Ana Heights, become the owner of the closed Coyote Canyon landfill, and take on maintenance and other duties in the Back Bay. An agreement on so-called "sphere issues" will be first on the city's to-do list, Bludau told the City Council on Tuesday.

Newport Beach city manager Homer Bludau is getting married Saturday. His fiancee, Janet Hodges, jokingly said it was never her aspiration to marry a city manager. But, the couple's mutual friend Christine Carr had other ideas. For a couple of years, Hodges said Carr had told her there is someone she should meet, but Hodges said she didn't pay any attention to her friend. During this time, Carr was also talking to Bludau about Hodges, telling him she knew someone he should meet.

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- City officials can breathe a sigh of relief. City Manager Allan Roeder is not going anywhere -- at least for now. In an unexpected move, the Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday to fill its city manager vacancy from within its organization, eliminating an opportunity for Roeder to leave. "While I certainly think Allan is very well qualified, we are just as happy to have him stay here," Mayor Libby Cowan said. Last month, Roeder announced he would be interested in filling the soon-to-be vacant city manager position in Anaheim, now held by the retiring James Ruth.

June Casagrande NEWPORT BEACH -- Partly in response to a survey that showed City Manager Homer Bludau's salary lagging behind other Orange County city managers, as well as other city staff, the council will likely agree to a pay raise for Bludau tonight. "Homer was underpaid based on a survey we performed," Mayor Tod Ridgeway said. "So we want to bring him in line with other city managers in the county." The survey ranked Bludau's annual salary of $145,000, plus a $3,600 car allowance, at No. 15 in a survey of 16 cities, beating out only San Clemente.

After two decades of leading Costa Mesa, Allan Roeder sees better public facilities, infrastructure and local government.COSTA MESA -- Thirty years ago, Allan Roeder was just an intern with the city. Today he's celebrating 20 years as its city manager. During those two decades -- 30 years total on the city staff, going back to that college internship -- Roeder has managed to stay on everyone's right side, no matter the turmoil. It may be why the 54-year-old is still in his top-floor corner office.

Critics of Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau are pointing to free meals from a Newport restaurateur and his request for valet parking signs being honored in 2005 as a conflict of interest. But Bludau fired back that the two were not related. Bludau received free meals worth $420 from June 2004 to June 2005, courtesy of 21 Oceanfront restaurant owner Leo Gugasian, according records filed with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. The city manager’s office requested valet parking signs in July 2005 and it was granted, records show.

Homer Bludau was the type of boss who told Texas redneck jokes at city staff meetings, once came to an employee breakfast dressed as Elvis, and took time out of his busy schedule to donate blood, friends and colleagues said at his retirement dinner Thursday night. Bludau will leave Newport Beach City Hall today after 10 years as city manager. Getting a little choked up during his after-dinner speech at the Newport Beach Marriott, Bludau told the audience that he felt God had put him in Newport Beach.

Newport Beach firefighters will pay more toward their pensions, and newly hired firefighters will receive less in their retirement, according to a union contract the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday. With the increased contributions and a less generous retirement plan, Newport joins a growing roster of California cities reforming their pensions and saving long-term employment costs. "This is about finding balance about what is fair for our dedicated employees, and what is fair for taxpayers," said Councilwoman Leslie Daigle.

Your April 6 story, "Owners speak out against harbor rent increase," did not really reflect the seething anger in the Newport Beach City Council Chambers over an unbridled attempt to increase the city's revenue. The reason: The attendees were too gentlemanly and ladylike to express their true views about the mayor, two councilmen and the city manager who lectured the citizens as if they were schoolchildren. The foursome tried to appear to listen while their minds were made up and closed.

The Newport Beach City Council revised its stance on the 19th Street Bridge controversy Tuesday night, deciding to try negotiating with the Orange County Transportation Authority before filing a lawsuit. The council unanimously approved having City Manager Dave Kiff seek an agreement with the OCTA to pause the statute of limitations on a civil suit while the two sides "try to resolve disputes without the need for litigation," City Attorney Aaron Harp said. The council took a second vote authorizing Harp to file a lawsuit against the OCTA before the statute of limitations runs out. That vote was 5 to 2, with council members Keith Curry and Leslie Daigle dissenting.

Commercial marina owners of Newport Harbor greeted a city proposal to triple their rents with hostility Thursday afternoon. Newport Beach has been revising all harbor fees since 2006, when the Orange County Grand Jury issued a critical report on the city's practices. "None of us are real happy about having this discussion," City Manager Dave Kiff said during the meeting that brought about 100 attendees to City Hall. "I want to be real clear what the city's obligation is, and that is to charge fair market value for the use of the tidelands.

The Costa Mesa city charter, if adopted by the voters, needs to adequately protect the right of the citizens for sound government. Yet, every so often some folks want to play with different rules and not to listen to the voices of the people. We need to be faithful to the ideals of good government and true to founding principles of democracy. We do not need to change the rules of good moral and ethics to solve problems. So it is noted, if the charter is to be approved by the voters in June, it will become the way we govern ourselves for now and also later for the future generations of Costa Mesa.

IRVINE — City Council members unanimously approved a two-year contract extension this week for City Manager Sean Joyce. The contract, which provides an annual salary of $254,820, was set to expire in July 2013. It will now continue through June 2015, according to a city staff report . "The unanimous decision is the reflection of his job performance as city manager," Mayor Sukhee Kang said. "Even during these tough economic times of the last three years, he really executed council direction well using leadership and helped all city employees work harder with less.

City employees who live in town can better understand its residents' problems. While that was the reason for paying half of City Manager Dave Kiff's home, council members probably weren't envisioning a situation he now faces. Kiff lives next to a row of eucalyptus trees that an arborist has determined may need to be removed, and his neighbors are preparing to fight that decision. This leaves him in the awkward spot as the ultimate decision-maker for removing the trees. Instead, he has elected to step aside and let other staff members make the call.

NEWPORT BEACH - A $5,000 reward was proposed Tuesday night to help catch anyone responsible for vandalizing the city's Ronald Reagan statue over the weekend. During the City Council meeting, Councilman Keith Curry asked the city manager and police chief to organize the reward. It would be given for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal or vandals, Curry proposed. Curry was a leader in the effort to commission the bronze artwork and worked in the Reagan administration.

In a move to preserve some of the city's many eucalyptus, the Newport Beach Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission voted this week against felling 18 trees along Holiday Road. The 4-3 vote Tuesday blocked a city arborist's recommendation to remove the trees, which he deemed dangerous. About 140 other eucalyptus trees have been cut down using emergency declarations. The normal tree-removal process requires a commission vote, but officials instituted the emergency response after a blue gum eucalyptus fell and killed a motorist Sept.

Newport Beach and surrounding coastal communities this week received the kind of report card that would make any parent proud: nearly straight As. From Newport Bay to Crystal Cove, area beaches not only scored high in water quality on Heal the Bay's annual report card, but many fared better than last year. The Santa Monica-based environmental nonprofit's report gave A-to-F grades to 447 California beaches after documenting the "routine monitoring of beaches by local health agencies and dischargers," according a press release.