January 20, 2004
Mr. Tod Ridgeway
Mayor, Newport Beach
PO Box 1768
Newport Beach, CA 92658-8915
Dear Tod:
Thank you for your letter requesting a meeting with County representatives
regarding the City’s "sphere issues".
As Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, I am constantly seeking new ideas
to save money for the County while still providing the level of service our
community expects and deserves. And now, given the State’s continued budget
deficit and the still uncertain solutions outlined by the Governor, we must
be even more vigilant and create more efficiency and effectiveness in an
already lean government.
As you’re probably aware, my colleagues and I just adopted the new reorganized
county structure. Under my direction, our CEO developed this new structure
which consolidates departments where necessary to eliminate duplication of
efforts, separates responsibilities to allow for closer oversight in some
areas, and creates a new level of Deputies to increase management effectiveness.
This action is also expected to save the County over $500K annually. In addition
to these types of changes, we would be interested in meeting with you and
your designees to discuss other possibilities in which Orange County can
be more effective for the community.
Among the sphere issues you mentioned, we are willing to meet and discuss
the Santa Ana Heights Redevelopment Area/Plan, the Coyote Canyon Landfill,
and the County Tidelands. Also mentioned in your request is a discussion
on oversight of John Wayne Airport. You cite issues such as proximity, use
of JWA and importance to local economy as reasons to consider a sphere shift.
However, there are a number of other cities which could make similar and
additional findings as well. We appreciate your apparent willingness to find
ways to better the County, but it is my strong belief that John Wayne Airport
remain as a core business of the county. This opinion has been informally
echoed by many of my colleagues over the past few weeks, and I have therefore
decided it would be inappropriate to discuss this issue. Including JWA would
only detract us from other potentially feasible discussions.
Our CEO will be working with your staff to set a meeting date and time. We
look forward to meeting with you on the three issues identified above.
Sincerely,
Tom Wilson
Chairman of the Board
Cc: Board of Supervisors
Mr. Jim Ruth, CEO
Mr. Ben DeMayo, County Counsel