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Costa Mesa Prepares for Rain Storm

City prepares for winter rain storm

In anticipation of a major rain storm predicted to hit Friday, the City of Costa Mesa is making free sandbags available to residents and putting emergency crews on standby to deal with any flooding, downed trees, inoperable traffic lights or other weather-related issues.

"We don't anticipate any major problems, but we want to be ready just in case," City CEO Tom Hatch said.

The city's Public Services Department will have crews clear out the catch basins of storm drains Wednesday and Thursday, and schedule emergency personnel to be on standby Friday and Saturday. The Costa Mesa Fire Department will have an additional four firefighters on duty Friday and Saturday.

Costa Mesa residents can fill up to 15 sandbags for free (shovels provided) at the Placentia Fire Station at 2300 Placentia Ave.

Prestigious Award for the City of Costa Mesa

City receives prestigious national budget award

The City of Costa Mesa recently received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Assn. (GFOA) for its 2012-13 fiscal year budget document.

The award—the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting—recognized that Costa Mesa’s budget document excelled as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide and communications device.

 “This distinguished honor represents the hard work and dedication of our City staff in striving for transparency by creating a budget document that seeks to enhance understanding,” stated City CEO Tom Hatch. “The budget is the most important policy decision that the City Council makes each year and this award represents our effort to encourage public participation.”

The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving over 17,800 government finance professionals throughout the United States and Canada.

Costa Mesa Launches Smartphone App

The City of Costa Mesa launched a smartphone application on 2/11/14 called Costa Mesa Connect, a civic engagement tool that allows residents to conveniently access city services.

With Costa Mesa Connect, residents can submit, track and view nearby requests for services such as graffiti removal and pothole repairs through the smartphone app, the City’s website (www.costamesaca.gov/connect) or text messages. The free application is available in the Apple app store and Google Play. Type “Costa Mesa Connect” in the search engine of the app store.

When residents submit service requests via smartphones, the app automatically alerts City staff to the precise location of the problem. Residents also have the option of using their smartphone camera to upload a photo to better assist staff.

“This technological innovation harnesses the power of smartphones to allow residents to better engage with their city government,” said City CEO Tom Hatch. “We are excited for residents to see how easy it is to use and get results.”

To help the City reach out to all residents, the application features One Voice Translation to support over 17 languages. When a resident submits a request in another language, the request is automatically translated into English for city staff. Any subsequent updates on the request are automatically translated back into the resident’s preferred language.

App also provides access to Costa Mesa news, calendar listings, public meeting agendas and more.

The City launched the app in partnership with PublicStuff, which has developed similar apps for more than 200 cities.

Costa Mesa Workers' Comp Medical Costs Down 44%

City drives down workers' compensation medical costs by 44% through reforms

Workers' compensation medical costs for Costa Mesa
Year	Cost	Savings
FY 09/10	$1,753,178
FY 10/11	$1,613,542	8.0%
FY 11/12	$1,243,425	22.9%
FY 12/13	$980,661	21.1%

 

A comprehensive program enacted over the past three years to reduce workers’ compensation medical costs in the City of Costa Mesa has resulted in annual savings of approximately $772,000.

The 44% reduction since 2009-10 fiscal year are the result of 14 recommendations that came from workers’ compensation review that was completed in 2011 at the direction of the City Council. The recommendations focused on improvements in processing claims, technology and data tracking, and training and education.

Since then, the Human Resources Division has implemented each recommendation.

“This is local government at its best,” said City CEO Tom Hatch. “We are now operating a more efficient workers’ compensation program for our employees and saving money for taxpayers. The City Council's vision to complete the review and the Human Resources Division's efforts to implement the recommendations has led to this significant, hard-earned achievement.”

As part of the reforms, the City now:

• Retained a new third-party administrator for the workers’ compensation program.
• Handles minor medical injuries as first-aid incidents, when appropriate, to prevent them from becoming workers compensation claims. 
• Brings back, when possible, injured employees on modified or light-duty assignments to keep them engaged and productive.
• Uses nurse triage services, which allow employees and supervisors to call an injury hotline staffed with registered nurses when an injury occurs. The registered nurse who handles the call provides immediate direction to the injured employee as to the best course of medical action. The nurse also reports the injury to Human Resources immediately after phone call.
• Uses a nurse as a liaison between the injured worker and the City who also accompanies injured workers to doctor appointments. This improves efficiency of care and has proven a valuable in returning employees to work more quickly.