continued from Current News (Daily Pilot)
Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach said Wednesday that he didn’t see any land sales or annexation plans on the immediate horizon.
Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau also said he didn’t think a sale is likely in the current economic climate.
“Even if we wanted to do that, where would the money come from, and where would it come from,” Bludau asked. “The county also would have to be willing to let go of the property.”
After the Orange County Board of Supervisors announced that the county would be laying off hundreds of workers in order to solve a budget gap, the supervisors came under fire for voting to remodel the fifth floor of their Santa Ana office building at a cost of about $400,000.
Employee union officials who represent county workers look at the project as a slap in the face, but Moorlach said it’s just a case of bad timing.
The remodel, which was unanimously approved by the board, was necessary because the Santa Ana Fire Department inspected the place and determined that it wasn’t up to code because emergency exits were blocked, Moorlach said.
There’s also an issue of safety and security, Moorlach said. He and his staff have been threatened before because adequate safeguards against members of the public don’t exist.
BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.
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