CITY ROUNDUP:Sewer project meeting set

The City of Laguna Beach will have a public meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council Chambers to review the North Coast Interceptor project at Nyes Place and provide the public with an opportunity to become familiar with the details of the construction.

The project is expected to begin in September and end in December.

The North Coast Interceptor is a large pipeline transporting more than 2 million gallons of wastewater from the city daily. Approximately 1,000 feet of the North Coast Interceptor will be realigned, replaced or rehabilitated. The project will require access restrictions from Coast Highway to side streets in the vicinity of Nyes Place. The majority of the work will be in the center of the highway and be active between September and December.

Dudek Associates has been hired to design and provide construction oversight of this project. The firm will present the project and go over the traffic control plans. For more information, visit www.clbwq.net and follow the links to the NCI project.

The Council Chambers are located at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

For additional information on the workshop or project, call the Water Quality Department at (949) 497-0378.

Personnel Board has three open seats

Interviews and appointments for three seats on the Laguna Beach Personnel Board will be at the Sept. 18 City Council meeting.

The board hears appeals from employees related to disciplinary action, dismissal, demotion, reduction in pay or suspension. Appointees serve two-year terms, beginning in October of odd numbered years.

Applications are available at the City Clerk’s office in City Hall, 505 Forest Ave. For more information, call (949) 497-0305.

The deadline to submit applications is 5 p.m., Sept. 11.

Climate group hosts Huntington Beach official

Debbie Cook, mayor pro tem of Huntington Beach, will speak on “Municipal Response to Climate and Energy Challenges” at 1 p.m. Saturday at City Council Chambers, 505 Forest Ave.

The presentation is sponsored by the Climate Protection Work Group, an arm of the city’s Environmental Committee that has been tasked with writing recommendations for implementing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Laguna Beach’s City Council adopted that agreement unanimously Feb. 6. It calls for reducing the city’s green house gas emissions by 7% below 1990 levels by the year 2012. Nearly 600 American cities have signed on to the agreement so far.

From 1994 to 2001, Cook worked on the Bolsa Chica Land Trust Legal Team, which set California precedent by protecting environmentally sensitive coastal habitat.

Now in her second term on the Huntington Beach City Council, she is president of the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities and a Regional Council Member on the Southern California Association of Governments where she serves as chairwoman of the Energy and Environment Committee and Energy Working Group.

Lifeguards plan annual blood drive

The Marine Safety Department, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, will have its annual blood drive Aug. 22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The bloodmobile will be located at Main Beach on Pacific Coast Highway and Ocean Avenue. To give blood, sign up online at www.givelife.org (use sponsor code: lifeguards) or contact Mark Bacon with the Red Cross at (714) 427-2691.

Final of three Atheism history programs set

The third and final part of “Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the community room on the third floor of the Wells Fargo Bank building, 260 Ocean Ave.

Jonathan Miller will explore the origins of his own lack of supernatural belief and also uncover the story of atheism in Part III, “The Final Hour.”

The program illuminates the theories and philosophies of Thomas Paine, Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud, as well as interviews with Simon Schaffer, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Colin McGinn and others.

All are welcome and admission is free. The program is presented by Atheists United -- Laguna Beach and sponsored by Atheists United Inc. of Los Angeles. Laguna Beach resident Niko Theris is hosting the program.

Calling all bell-ringers

Anyone interested in being part of a hand bell choir is invited to the music room of Laguna Presbyterian Church at 6 p.m. Aug. 21 and Aug. 28. Tami Brose will offer an opportunity to experience ringing hand bells.

The church is in the back of the rose garden on Second Street, just off of Forest Avenue. For more information, call Brose at (949) 910-8080.

Back-to-school items needed

The Women’s Club of Laguna Beach and the Laguna Relief and Resource Center are sponsoring their annual Back To School party for underprivileged families Aug. 24.

Donated items may be dropped off between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. the day of the party at the club, 286 St. Ann’s Drive, Laguna Beach.

Items that are needed include school supplies of all kinds: paper, pens, color pencils, scissors, spiral notebooks and back packs.

Also needed are clothing for all members of the family, new or gently used.

For more information, call Sande St. John at (949) 633-9429.