Mission Viejo News Briefs

Activists Ask for Local News Coverage
On Dec. 15, a group of Mission Viejo activists met with OC Register and Saddleback Valley News employees to ask for balanced community coverage. Residents have noticed SVN is reprinting articles from the Register that are unrelated to local news. Letters to the editor of SVN are often about national and international issues. Residents who wrote letters about the Nov. 4 city election said their letters were never published. SVN officials suggested that letter writers should follow up with a phone call to make sure their letters were received.

Unisys Cuts 40 Mission Viejo Jobs
Forty workers are being laid off at Mission Viejo’s Unisys facility on Jeronimo Road. The Register carried the notice in a Dec. 19 online story. A Unisys spokesman confirmed that the layoffs resulted from the company’s worldwide effort to cut $100 million in annual expenses and remain competitive. The Mission Viejo layoffs will take place by the end of the year. The cuts followed reports of Unisys’ revenue losses as well as uncertainties in its key commercial markets.

It’s Not a Tax, It’s a ‘Fee’
The city of Mission received word of the creation of the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund, implementing SB 1473, effective Jan. 1, 2009. The bill requires cities to collect a fee from an applicant at the time a building permit is issued. Mission Viejo will keep 10 percent of the fee, as allowed by law. The city announced it will use the money to promote green building and energy-efficient programs and produce educational materials.

It’s Not a Raise, It’s a ‘Cut’
Check out a story on Brad Morton’s blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com
regarding a 3.5 percent pay raise for the city’s 150-plus employees. Because of the city’s revenue shortfall (deficit spending of $12-million during the past year), the raise might be reduced to 2 percent. Because the raise might not be 3.5 percent as anticipated, it’s now being referred to as a “cutback” on the council agenda.

Chick-Fil-A Considers Mission Viejo
A development manager for Chic-Fil-A has met with city officials to discuss locating a 4,000-sq.-ft. restaurant with a drive-through feature at the eastern end of the Office Max building on Crown Valley Parkway. The plans are in preliminary stages.

Water District Board Raises its Pay
The Dec. 20 OC Register carried news of the Santa Margarita Water District board voting itself a pay raise. In addition to its raise, the board approved the new $210-per-meeting pay for up to 10 meetings a month. The previous limit was six per month. Members of the SMWD board are Roger Faubel, Saundra Jacobs, Betty Olson, Charley Wilson and Bill Lawson.