Orange County Board Of Supervisors

An Orange County judge on Friday raised doubts about the validity of a county charter approved by voters last year, saying he will rule this weekend on whether a supervisorial election made possible by the charter should be canceled. The special election to fill the 3rd District seat on the Board of Supervisors is scheduled for Tuesday, and candidates continued to campaign despite the uncertainly over whether the vote would actually take place.

Harriett Wieder, a longtime assistant to former Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty who later became the first woman elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, died Monday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. She was 89. In poor health since a car accident six months ago, she was being treated for pneumonia and died of heart failure, according to longtime family friend Ed Laird. Wieder was known as a maverick who was not shy about taking on the supervisors' "old boys' club," a male-only bastion for almost 100 years until her election in 1978.

A member of the local Sheriff's Team of Active Retired Seniors will be honored for his volunteer service by the Orange County Board of Supervisors this month. Joseph Barney has dedicated more than 585 hours to the team, which helps the Sheriff's Department by checking on vacationers' homes, patrolling parks and reporting graffiti.

In a setback to Orange County officials, a judge tossed out a lawsuit Thursday that sought to roll back the retirement benefits of sheriff's deputies -- a move government officials insist would save the county tens of millions of dollars. But county officials said the fight over the benefits will continue and most logically should be decided by the state Supreme Court.

Former Assemblyman Bill Campbell was chosen Tuesday by his colleagues to chair the Orange County Board of Supervisors for 2005. Campbell was elected to the board nearly two years ago in a special election to succeed Todd Spitzer, who left midway into his second term to win Campbell's Assembly seat. Outgoing Chairman Tom Wilson was named vice chairman. Both positions hold prestige but carry no additional authority. Campbell will lay out his priorities in a Jan. 25 speech.

New Facility for Children Planned: The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to seek proposals from contractors to provide a 12-bed facility for emotionally disturbed children in the custody of the Social Services Agency or the Probation Department. County officials said the additional beds are needed because too many of the youths are being housed in county facilities not appropriate for them, including the overcrowded Juvenile Hall.

Street Contract OKd: The Orange County Board of Supervisors last week approved a $75,000 contract to repair streets, curbs, sidewalks and storm drains in the Old Town East area of Los Alamitos. An additional $25,000 was approved to rehabilitate a community center in the city. The supervisors also signed an $86,169 contract with the R. J. Noble Co. to resurface streets in unincorporated areas in West Garden Grove and West Anaheim.

County to Finance Drain: The Orange County Board of Supervisors has approved a cooperative agreement with the city to replace an open channel with a $495,000 underground storm drain. The capacity of the existing channel is not consistent with drainage standards, officials said. Although a portion of the project is inside city limits, city funds are not available, and the county will foot the entire bill. The project site lies north of Fillmore Drive between Beach Boulevard and Nearing Drive.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will meet in Costa Mesa on Thursday to discuss the county's 2001 Strategic Financial Plan. The meeting will include a public comment period for members of the community to express their concerns about the long-range finances of the county. Among the subjects to be covered at the meeting are jail expansion, juvenile halls, credit and debt management and development at the closed El Toro military base. Discussion starts at 9 a.m.

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens appeared one more time Tuesday before an overflowing crowd at a Board of Supervisors meeting to explain her stance on concealed-weapons permits and why she will revoke some of the ones issued under her predecessor. But her explanation did not satisfy the permit advocates -- including representatives of the National Rifle Assn. -- nor the supervisors.

Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby wants to bar the Sheriff's Department from handling security in the Hall of Administration after an investigator used a security camera to zoom in on Norby's notes and a colleague's BlackBerry messages during a board meeting. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors asserted control over security in the board chambers and weighed whether to hire a private firm or a local police department to provide security in the Hall of Administration.

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has launched an investigation into the behavior of a sheriff's investigator who videotaped a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, zooming in on one supervisor's notes and the text messages on another's BlackBerry. The investigator had been asked to use a boardroom security camera to observe the audience as supervisors discussed layoffs and the sheriff's recent crackdown on concealed weapon permits.

Orange County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to place a measure on the November ballot letting voters decide if future pension increases for county government workers should be put to a public vote. If approved by voters as part of the Nov. 4 general election ballot, the measure would amend the county's charter to require that retirement benefit increases for county workers be approved by a majority of voters, with a study of the benefits' cost published in ballot pamphlets.

At the start of the year, Democrats in Orange County thought they were on the verge of capturing a seat on the Board of Supervisors representing Santa Ana and the central county area. They had a strong candidate in Joe Dunn, who had represented the region in the state Senate. A $150,000 registration drive had added more than 7,000 voters to the Democratic edge in the 1st Supervisorial District.

He is a first-time candidate with little money, no campaign mail and no endorsements. His opponent is a popular politician who has represented the northeast wedge of Orange County for a dozen years in the Legislature and on the Board of Supervisors, is flush with campaign cash and backed by the county's powerful GOP machine. It is the kind of campaign that highlights all the difficulties faced by any relatively unknown challenger.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors may be poised to fire its top administrator at a special meeting today. Supervisors have clashed with County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier over a range of issues--including delays in converting El Toro into a commercial airport, as well as her management style. An agenda item calling for a closed-door meeting to discuss her job performance reads, "Hire an interim CEO, effective immediately."

County residents with children in local public schools are more likely to give the supervisors poor grades for their performance during the financial crisis and to say they have very little or no confidence in the supervisors' ability to solve the problem. How much confidence do you have in the ability of the Orange County Board ofSupervisors to solve the county's financial crisis?

Nine law enforcement veterans competing to become Orange County's next sheriff appeared before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday in an unprecedented public interview session to determine which one should replace the top cop who left office under indictment. The candidates were allowed an hour each to make a brief statement and then field questions from the five supervisors, with the session stretching into the night.

A look at some upcoming news events: Address: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivers the annual State of the City address. Earthquake: Representatives of the Southern California Earthquake Center, the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geologic Survey report new earthquake probabilities for the state. Monday O.C. bus service: The Orange County Transportation Authority will hold a hearing on proposed route changes.