Board Weighs Its Options for El Toro Director

Wanted: Good planner. Goal-oriented person who gets results to put an airport at El Toro. Must be political.

County supervisors Wednesday considered a list of candidates to hire as interim director for a newly formed department to plan an international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Though supervisors remained tight-lipped about the candidates’ identities after a closed session, some of the names included Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Business Council, and Seal Beach Councilman Shawn Boyd, among others, sources close to the process said.

Oftelie, 52, who was the longtime executive director of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said he’s interested in the job but nobody from the board has contacted him.

Boyd, 31, in addition to being on the City Council, is a Seal Beach businessman. He was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Also considered a potential candidate is Sir Eldon Griffiths, 73, a former member of the British House of Commons and long associated with the Orange County World Affairs Council.

“You need a good planning director, someone who has the understanding of how to put an airport there at El Toro and to help the decision-making process along. They also must understand politics. Frankly, I’m not sure that person exists,” said Bruce Nestande, a former county supervisor who is among the influential supporters of an international airport at El Toro.

The director will head the new Local Redevelopment Authority, which will oversee planning for base reuse. Supervisors are expected to adopt a new ordinance at their regular meeting Tuesday that essentially turns over the massive project at the 4,700-acre former base to someone other than County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier.

The bold move bypassing the chief executive comes after years of internal and public bickering between Mittermeier and board members over the scope of her job. Mittermeier’s attorney, Wylie A. Aitken, has called the supervisors’ action a breach of his client’s contract, which calls for her to oversee all county matters, including El Toro.

County May Need New Chief Executive Too

If supervisors adopt the ordinance, the board would effectively be terminating Mittermeier, her attorney said.

According to Nestande, the new director must be part judge, architect and negotiator who comes equipped with battle armor for the “very contentious, very public political process” ahead.

But Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea, who is against the airport, disagreed.

“I believe that someone heading up a planning process shouldn’t be a political figure,” she said. “They have to be a bureaucrat and answer to the Board of Supervisors. That’s the problem we’ve had with Jan [Mittermeier] all along. She’s been much too political.”

Shea, who knows both Oftelie and Boyd, said she favors Boyd in spite of a unanimous vote by the Seal Beach City Council to oppose Measure F, the anti-airport initiative that overwhelmingly passed in March with 67% of the vote.

“Yes, they voted against Measure F,” Shea said. “But when I recently spoke to [Boyd] he did indicate his council was very neutral from the standpoint of intensity against the measure.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman Chuck Smith, who is one of three airport supervisors on the five-member board, said some of the characteristics a new director should have include experience administrating large projects.

“I’m looking for somebody who knows the system and who also has been involved in large projects and can plan one and do all the steps to carry it through,” Smith said. “We’re not looking for a manager but a project director, someone who can get the base transferred from the Navy to the county and then plan and implement the plan for the reuse of the 5,000 acres.”

Having some political acumen would be a plus, Smith said.

“Any time you take on a major project like this you need some political sense,” he said, “because the new director will be dealing with people in Washington, D.C., anti-airport groups, people trying to annex the base and the people who would like to use the base for housing purposes.”

“I don’t like the world ‘political,’ but they must be able to deal with all aspects of the groups involved,” he added.

Smith and Supervisor Tom Wilson, who both have had experience on large projects while they were at Rockwell International in Anaheim, will head the board’s selection subcommittee.