That’s a wrap! Dane Bora, the face and voice of Costa Mesa’s CMTV announces retirement

Anyone who follows civic affairs in Costa Mesa has surely met Dane Bora — the face and voice of locally broadcast CMTV and social media campaigns perhaps best known for delivering weekly video news headlines under the banner “Costa Mesa Minute.”

Just 23 years old and two years out of college in 1990, Bora landed a part-time production job at Costa Mesa City Hall that would turn into a 31-year career for the broadcaster-turned-public affairs manager.

Now, his final scene is imminent as the city staffer officially announced Tuesday he will retire from the position on Dec. 3.

“Thirty-one and a half years was a much longer run than I’d ever expected,” the Mission Viejo resident said in an interview Wednesday. “It was time — time to start a new chapter and see what else this life has in store for me. It just felt right.”

Costa Mesa city employee Dane Bora, left, posed with a Parks and Recreation employee in 1993 for the cover of the city’s annual recreation guide.

(Courtesy of Dane Bora)

Hired to work part time on Costa Mesa’s still-young cable access channel, Bora segued to a full-time position after three months. At first, his team stuck to the basics — council meetings and city-sponsored youth basketball and flag football games.

But as the years went on, Bora’s work brought him out from behind the camera and into the limelight. He covered high school sports and provided play-by-play commentary as legions of student athletes graduated, became adults and had children of their own.

“I started seeing a second generation,” he said. “We were doing games with the kids of parents who’d been on TV. That was kind of cool and scary.”

The advent of the internet changed the nature of communications work at City Hall, and Bora and his close-knit staff adapted, repurposing a 30-minute news show called “Community Report” into shorter form videos and focusing on the city’s website.

In 2011, the team rolled out “Costa Mesa Minute,” a highlight reel of community news and goings-on still popular on social media today. Since the spots began, Bora has taped 2,229 episodes.

In a city release announcing the news, Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison called Bora’s departure a big loss for not only her department, but for the entire city.

“He has been the leader of the city’s award-winning CMTV team, and his Costa Mesa Minute has made him a familiar face with the whole community, of which he has multiple ties and connections,” she said. “Dane is a trusted colleague of ours in the city manager’s office and he will truly be missed.”

City spokesman Tony Dodero, who’s worked in public affairs since 2015, said Bora is one of the hardest working people at City Hall.

“He is a mega-talented videographer, writer and communicator, and his institutional knowledge of the Costa Mesa community is unmatched,” Dodero said Thursday. “I’m going to miss his humor, guidance and friendship dearly.”

Bora said he doesn’t know what’s next, beyond enjoying the holidays with wife Chris and son Ryan, a freshman at Arizona State University. When he thinks back on how, at 23, he ended up doing municipal work, he feels lucky.

“Like most kids out of college, I was just looking to find work,” he said. “Did I want to be in government? No, I don’t think it ever dawned on me. [But] it has been a more fulfilling career than I ever would have dreamed it would be.”

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