ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Irvine Council to Remove Finance Director Niven

The City Council announced Tuesday that it will remove Jeff Niven from the post of finance director, where he’s been criticized by some residents for recommending that the city invest heavily in the ill-fated county investment pool.

Niven will be stripped of his responsibility for monitoring city investments on June 1. But Mayor Michael Ward said Niven will continue to serve as manager of fiscal services.

A replacement has not yet been named.

Ward did not give a reason for the council’s action, which comes as an activist group is collecting signatures to recall three council members who voted to invest borrowed money into the county pool at Niven’s recommendation.

The group, called the Irvine Recall Committee, said it would drop its campaign if both Niven and City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. are removed from office.

Niven, a 19-year city employee who earns $84,000 a year, said the council’s decision was politically motivated.

“You see what’s going on,” he said. “I knew they were under pressure with regards to the recall.”

Niven defended his investment decisions.

“I had reliance on what the county was telling me,” he said. “There has to be a point in time when you trust some people.”

Irvine had more than $200 million in the investment pool at the time of the Dec. 6 bankruptcy.