ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : NOTEBOOK : No 3-Alarm Pomp in Times of Austerity

Low profile: A planned groundbreaking ceremony for a new county fire station in Newport Beach was canceled this week by county and Irvine Co. officials.

Construction of Fire Station No. 52 on Newport Coast Drive, next to an Irvine Co. development, will proceed on schedule. But in light of the financial crisis, officials decided it was best to move forward without the pomp and circumstance of a ceremony.

“They just decided it wasn’t a good use of time or energy to celebrate the groundbreaking, given the county’s situation right now,” Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said.

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The one day of Christmas: The holiday weekend will bring a welcome respite for county officials who have been working practically nonstop since the bond crisis exploded three weeks ago.

No emergency Board of Supervisors meetings are scheduled this weekend. Workers who put their holiday plans on hold because of the crisis said they’ll use the time off to do last-minute Christmas shopping and spend time with their families.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Nancy Swanson, a staffer in the clerk of the board’s office, who hasn’t had a day off since Dec. 6. Instead of shopping for gifts, Swanson spent the last two weekends at the Hall of Administration, scheduling special board meetings.

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Not in the job description: For local elected officials, the crisis has turned part-time jobs into day-and-night obsessions.

“During the last three weeks, I have probably had less than four hours of sleep each night as we’re trying to understand the depth of the problem,” said Tom Burnham, president of the Irvine Unified School District Board of Education. “When you have a full-time job, this is the equivalent of another full-time job.”

Others agreed that crisis has come to dominate their lives.

“This is taking our full attention,” said Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz. “I don’t have any Christmas decorations, no Christmas tree, no nothing. I’ve pared it down to the essentials. I’ve not been able to do any of the normal things you do during Christmas at home.”

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That’s the spirit: The threat of massive layoffs so close to Christmas has spawned some gallows humor on the part of county workers. On Thursday, one county employee smoking a cigarette outside the assessor’s office broke into song. The tune was from “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” But the lyrics had a twist: “It’s beginning to look a lot like cutbacks,” he crooned.

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Helping hand: In response to announcements of layoffs, the Orange County Federal Credit Union wants to soften the blow.

Credit union officials said Friday that they will work on a one-on-one basis with members to help restructure their debts, consolidate loans and lower payments on existing loans.

“Basically, we’re doing our part . . . to sort of ease whatever news may come out,” said Errol Griffin, the credit union’s executive vice president. “We don’t know what that news will be.”