Costa Mesa Job Center closure merits a review

We have made it no secret that we disagree with the Costa Mesa City

Council’s decision to close the Job Center.

Having said that, we are always willing to listen to all the

arguments.

Which is why we support the proposal by Councilwoman Katrina Foley

to bring the issue back up for a rehearing.

Foley’s reasons are sound. The public in essence was blindsided by

this closure and deserves to have their comments and concerns heard

by the City Council before such a sweeping decision like this is

made.

What Foley is proposing is merely a call for open government.

While some decisions take weeks, months, even years to sort out,

the Job Center closure seemed to be a done deal way before the

opening gavel of the March 15 council meeting when Mayor Allan

Mansoor and Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever formed the

majority vote to close it.

We just appeal to their sense of fairness and good government to

retrace their steps from that night.

As Foley pointed out, not all the parties that use the Job Center

were given notice of the decision; the wording of the public notice

was vague; and the private contractor presumed to take over this work

has not been thoroughly researched.

Further, the council, Foley points out, made the decision without

a staff report on the issue from Police Chief John Hensley, who has

gone on record in opposition to the Job Center closure.

Perhaps the reasons Mansoor, Monahan and Bever championed to close

the Job Center will carry the day in the end. But the March 15

decision was far too hasty for anyone to be confident of that.

We urge the council to put aside that decision and open up the

debate yet again. Let’s have all the facts about the costs the

closure will bring to private contractors, the police force and the

workers.

If at the end of the day, the facts don’t change the council’s

mind, so be it. But at least we’ll all know then that every effort

was made to hear from every concerned party, and residents will be

able to trust that their city government actually listened to what

they had to say.