NORTH TUSTIN : 4 Members Named to Advisory Panel

The Board of Supervisors has appointed four members and two alternates to the new, five-member North Tustin Advisory Committee.

Alexander Carrassi, Eric Shield, Michael Gray and Mark Held were selected from a field of 35 candidates. Robert Shaw and David Brewer were chosen as alternates. The fifth member, Irene Brace, was appointed by the Foothill Communities Assn.

Carrassi, 46, is an accountant. Shield, 40, is an assistant vice president for First American Title Insurance Co. Gray, 34, is a senior account executive at BellSouth Communication Systems. Held, 39, is president of Equity Realty Advisors Inc., a pension fund and real-estate advisory company.

Shaw, 69, is a retired engineer and president of the Orange County Multi-Housing Service Corp. Brewer, 46, is a home designer and builder. Brace, 45, is a wholesale broker who served 10 years on the North Tustin Municipal Advisory Council.

The supervisors formed the committee after discontinuing the North Tustin Municipal Advisory Council in June for financial reasons. The new body will cost the county less money because its members are appointed.

“This was a very extensive process,” Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said. “This slate will provide the necessary leadership to get this program off the ground.”

Initial community reaction to the new committee members was mixed.

“My first reaction is positive, for the four appointed by the board,” said Phyllis Spivey, a former member and outspoken critic of the defunct Municipal Advisory Council. “I have every hope that they will act responsibly and respect the rights of members of the community and not act solely for the benefit of a well-known special interest group,” Spivey said in an apparent reference to the Foothill Communities Assn.

Bill Weber, president of that association, was not as optimistic.

“I have to be somewhat flabbergasted by the number of people they’ve appointed with direct connections to the real estate and development industry,” he said.

Vasquez, however, said the candidates were chosen for their diverse backgrounds.

The new members interviewed said they have no preset agendas or goals for the committee.