County P.R. Director Given El Toro Job

Rob Richardson, Orange County’s director of public affairs and a former Santa Ana City Council member, was named interim executive director of El Toro’s new local redevelopment authority Thursday by county supervisors.

“This will be a good opportunity handling some big public policy issues,” Richardson said, adding that he is excited and eager to work with different groups, including airport critics and supporters.

Richardson steps into a position vacated, in part, by former County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier, who left government early this month after the board decided to have an El Toro office separate from county government.

Richardson will oversee the El Toro Master Development Program Office and preparation and certification of El Toro’s environmental impact reports. In addition, he will help secure and implement a master lease with the Navy for the 4,700-acre former base and also help explore both aviation and non-aviation alternatives.

Airport supporters and opponents alike were optimistic about Richardson’s selection, saying they hoped it signals the end of covert airport planning decisions and a lack of openness attributed to Mittermeier.

“The only way I know how to do business is to give everybody the same information at the same time,” Richardson said. “That’s one of the things I discussed with the board members walking into this.”

“[Richardson] and I had a chance to work together at several meetings and he seemed thoroughly professional,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of a South County coalition of eight anti-airport cities. “The more encouraging thing to me is he has come out of a city management background and culture, and it encourages me that he will be less likely to play ‘hide the ball’ games and treat supervisors unequally.”

Bruce Nestande, a former supervisor who is a leading airport advocate, said that although Richardson was not involved in El Toro planning from its inception, “he’s smart,” and can learn quickly.

“There’s no question in my mind that the process and the way the county goes about its business must change for more openness,” Nestande said.

Part of Richardson’s role, Nestande said, would be to help create as much civic involvement in El Toro’s reuse as people and groups desire.

Richardson, 39, was the county’s legislative affairs manager before he was selected public affairs director. Before that, he was chief of staff to then-Supervisor Roger R. Stanton and a Santa Ana councilman from 1994 to 1998.