O.C. Board Creates Office to Handle Airport Project

Struggling to regain authority over the troubled El Toro airport plan, Orange County supervisors on Tuesday effectively stripped County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier of control over the massive project by creating a new office to handle the work.

The action marks the supervisors’ boldest move yet to keep the six-year planning process on track. The county has spent $40 million in its bid to convert the former Marine base into a commercial airport without a final resolution to the controversial land-use issue.

But Mittermeier and her attorney immediately charged that forming an independent El Toro planning office violated the terms of her contract and would “effectively terminate” the besieged county executive.

Mittermeier, who survived an effort to oust her last month, said that for now, she will continue work as usual without any changes in her El Toro duties.

“I’m going to keep doing my job,” she said.

Supervisor Jim Silva, part of the board’s three-member pro-airport majority, proposed the new department with a director answering directly to the board, not Mittermeier. It quickly won the support of the four other board members.

“I’ve felt, and I have felt for a long time, that the county has been divided over El Toro,” said Silva, a longtime Mittermeier backer. “This is a . . . long time overdue. El Toro is big enough [an issue] to stand alone.”

Mittermeier questioned the legality of the board’s action, saying that her contract calls for her to oversee all county matters including El Toro. Creating the new office would represent a breach of contract, said her attorney, Wylie Aitken, and Mittermeier would be due about $170,000 in severance pay.

“Either they allow her to do her job or they make the decision they were unwilling to make” last month when the board voted 3 to 2 to retain her, Aitken said.

The conflict sets the stage for another showdown with Mittermeier this summer, when the board finalizes its plans for the new office and selects a director.

Supervisors and Mittermeier have clashed for months over her handling of the airport plan, which culminated with an unsuccessful attempt to oust her. Supervisors have accused the county executive office of being secretive about airport issues and failing to prepare for the passage of Measure F, the March initiative that requires a two-thirds vote for all new airports, jails and landfills.

At least twice in the past, supervisors have considered creating a separate El Toro office. But Mittermeier strongly opposed the idea, and supervisors backed off.

Board Chairman Chuck Smith said the supervisors’ action Tuesday will energize the airport project and does not constitute a breach of Mittermeier’s contract. He said Mittermeier will continue to oversee day-to-day county operations but that supervisors consider El Toro a “special project” that doesn’t necessarily fall under the executive officer’s authority.

Regardless of Mittermeier’s future, installing a new director to deal exclusively with El Toro is a sign that the board wants to take a more hands-on role in the planning, said Bruce Nestande, an airport supporter and former supervisor.

“Clearly, the El Toro process needs a laser-beam focus, and this will allow that to occur,” said Nestande, who has criticized Mittermeier for repeated delays in planning the airport, which is now at least three years behind schedule.

The county wants to convert the 4,700-acre El Toro base into an international airport capable of handling as many as 28.8 million passengers a year by 2020. Residents of the South County strongly oppose the plan, fearing noise and pollution from jets.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, a leading airport opponent, said he hopes creation of an El Toro office will return the county to “sound planning principles.”

He charged that Mittermeier and her staff haven’t properly accounted for John Wayne Airport money used on El Toro planning and have not provided proper oversight for consultants.

“There’s been a lot of rhetoric, very little credible planning and far, far to much acrimony,” Wilson said. “In the end, the board and the county have had very little to show for all of the money invested and the effort expended.”

The airport planning process was upended in March when voters approved Measure F, which in addition to requiring a two-thirds vote also placed limits on what airport activities the county could fund.

Mittermeier froze airport planning in April, citing Measure F. A judge last month allowed spending to continue and is expected to rule June 23 whether to invalidate all or part of the measure.

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