 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(May 2013) |
Orange County Employees Association | |
 | |
| Founded | 1937 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Santa Ana, California |
| Location | |
Members | 18,000 |
Key people | Lezlee Neebe, president |
| Website | ocea |
The Orange County Employees Association (OCEA), located in Santa Ana, California, is a public employee labor union in Orange County, representing about 18,000 employees. OCEA was founded in 1937.
Orange County Employees Association represents employees of Orange County, the Orange County Superior Court, cities, and special districts in the county.
Assessor's Office; Auditor-Controller; Child Support Services; Clerk of the Board; Clerk-Recorder; County Counsel; County Executive Office; District Attorney's Office; Health Care Agency; Internal Audit; John Wayne Airport; OC Community Resources; OC Public Works; OC Waste & Recycling; OCERS; Probation Department; Public Defender; Registrar of Voters; Sheriff-Coroner Department; Social Services Agency; Treasurer-Tax Collector.
City of Anaheim; City of Costa Mesa; City of Fountain Valley; City of Fullerton; City of Garden Grove; City of Huntington Beach; City of Irvine; City of Laguna Niguel; Mesa Water District; Moulton Niguel Water District; City of Newport Beach; Orange County Fire Authority; Orange County Law Library; Orange County Sanitation District; Orange County Water District; City of Orange; City of Placentia; City of San Clemente; City of Santa Ana; Santa Margarita Water District; City of Seal Beach; South County Wastewater Authority; City of Yorba Linda.
OCEA is governed by a 19-member Board of Directors, elected by its membership. The Board determines the policies and general direction which guide OCEA and its staff. Each Board member is a member of OCEA. Lezlee Neebe is OCEA's current president of Orange County Superior Court.
Charles Barfield
Jennifer (Muir) Beuthin, a former investigative reporter from the Orange County Register, now serves as OCEA's General Manager.
Nick Berardino was OCEA's third general manager. A machine gunner in the Marines during the Vietnam War, Berardino has been an OCEA employee since 1978. [1] Berardino was hired in 2004 as the union's third general manager to lead the professional staff of OCEA. During his career at OCEA, Berardino has served in multiple positions for the union and in 2011 he was appointed to the 32nd District Agricultural Association, Orange County Fair Board by California Gov. Jerry Brown. [2] In 2010 he was awarded the Cesar E. Chavez Award, which is given to the most outstanding labor leader. [3] He was also named "The Best Voice for the Little Guy" in 2011 by OC Weekly. [4]
Berardino is a controversial figure in Orange County politics and is known for his often belligerent approach to negotiations. During a contract negotiation session on January 5, 2014, Berardino became enraged at Orange County negotiator Bruce Barsook, called county supervisors "crooks", and yelled at him to leave the building. When Barsook got up to leave, Berardino stepped in front of him and chest-bumped Barsook. A few days later, the county filed formal assault charges against Berardino. [5] [6]
John Hagland Sawyer takes over as OCEA's general manager, after his father John Hiatt Sawyer retires in 1999. Before his tenure as general manager, John Sawyer Jr. served as OCEA's general counsel. [7]
John Hiatt Sawyer was OCEA's first general manager. Sawyer, a graduate of the University of Michigan, joined OCEA in 1960 and turned it from a fraternal organization into the professional labor union it is today. During Sawyer's tenure at OCEA, the union negotiated health insurance for retired workers. The association was also among the first in the state to secure uniform retirement benefits for workers in the 1960s, instead of employees only getting what they paid into the system. [7]
OCEA represents employees in the city of Costa Mesa, which is part of the Costa Mesa City Employees Association. In March 2011, the Costa Mesa City Council distributed layoff notices to more than 200 employees. The Costa Mesa employees and OCEA filed an injunction blocking the City of Costa Mesa from laying off employees and privatizing their jobs. Orange County Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann ruled in favor of the employees. [8] The defeat is named "Best Political Coup-2011" by OC Weekly. [9]
In January 2011, OCEA served hot dogs to nearly 4,000 members of the public at the California State Capitol. The event, celebrating the inauguration of Governor Jerry Brown, was featured in various publications and media outlets. [10]
OCEA and the County of Orange created a hybrid pension plan in 2009 that cleared the State legislature with unanimous bipartisan approval. Former vice chair of the Federal Reserve, Roger Ferguson, praised the pension plan for showing how to provide retirement security in a financially sustainable way. [11]
On December 6, 1994, Orange County became the largest municipality in American history to ever file for bankruptcy. The Orange County Employees Association, which represented two-thirds of county employees at the time, challenged the resulting layoffs. [7] [12]
Orange County, often known by its initials O.C., is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, and more populous than 19 American states and Washington, D.C. Although largely suburban, it is the second-most-densely-populated county in the state behind San Francisco County. The county's three most-populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Santa Ana is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the second most populous city in Orange County, the 13th-most populous city in California, and the 64th densest large city in the United States. Santa Ana is a major regional economic and cultural hub for the Orange Coast.
Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city, one of the region's largest commercial clusters, with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light manufacturing. The city is home to the two tallest skyscrapers in Orange County. The population was 111,918 at the 2020 census.
Laguna Niguel is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The name Laguna Niguel is derived from the words "Laguna" and "Niguili". As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,355. Laguna Niguel is located in the San Joaquin Hills in the southeastern corner of Orange County, close to the Pacific Ocean, and borders the cities of Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, and San Juan Capistrano.
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for the transportation system for the travel needs, including freeway improvements, express lane management, bus and rail transit operation, and commuter rail oversight.
Freedom Communications, Inc., was an American media conglomerate that operated daily and weekly newspapers, websites and mobile applications, as well as Coast Magazine and other specialty publications. Headquartered at 625 N. Grand Avenue in Santa Ana, California, it was owned by a private equity firm, 2100 Trust, established in 2010 by investor Aaron Kushner Freedom's flagship newspaper was the Orange County Register, based in Santa Ana.
Area code 949 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California in southern Orange County. The area code was assigned on April 18, 1998, to a numbering plan area that resulted from a boundary change of area code 714 to exclude the southern cities of Orange County.
The Orange County Fair, abbreviated as the OC Fair, is a 23-day annual fair that is held every summer at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California. The 2024 OC Fair is from July 19 to August 18, and theme will be “Always a Good Time!”
The Orange County Register is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The Register, published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital First Media News subsidiaries.
The South Coast Metro is a district in Orange County, California within the cities of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. The area is a dense mix of residential, office, and retail developments that spreads out from the South Coast Plaza mall. It forms part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city, a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional central business district. The edge city's area is defined to include John Wayne Airport, the Irvine Business Complex (IBC), The District and The Market Place shopping centers, and the University of California, Irvine campus. This larger definition extends into Newport Beach, Irvine, and Tustin.
The OC Fair & Event Center (OCFEC) is a 150-acre (0.61 km2) event venue in Costa Mesa, California. The site hosts over 150 events attracting 4.3 million visitors annually, and is home to the Orange County Fair, Centennial Farm, Costa Mesa Speedway, and Pacific Amphitheatre.
California's 47th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California.
Occupy Orange County is a Southern California chapter of the Occupy movement, which began with a rally of over 1,000 people at Irvine City Hall on October 15, 2011. Occupy OC has helped victims of what they called "fraudclosure" to delay their evictions. Members regularly protest political fundraisers, for example as the satirical "Billionaires for Romney."
Kona Lanes was a bowling center in Costa Mesa, California, that opened in 1958 and closed in 2003 after 45 years in business. Known for its futuristic design, it featured 40 wood-floor bowling lanes, a game room, a lounge, and a coffee shop that eventually became a Mexican diner. Built during the advent of Googie architecture, its Polynesian-inspired Tiki styling extended from the large roadside sign to the building's neon lights and exaggerated rooflines.
Sports in Orange County, California includes a number of sports teams and sports competitions. Within Orange County, the city of Anaheim currently hosts two major league sports teams — MLB's Los Angeles Angels and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks — and used to host two others.
The 2018 Orange, County, California District Attorney election took place on June 5, 2018 for the first round. Because no candidate received a majority in the first round, a runoff took place November 6, 2018, to elect the Orange County, California District Attorney. County-level elections in California are officially nonpartisan. Because no candidate received a majority, a runoff was held on November 6, 2018.
The Municipal Water District of Orange County, commonly known by the acronym MWDOC, is a wholesale water provider, water resource development and planning agency., water-centric information, education, emergency planning, and conservation resource hub for nearly 3.2 millionOrange County, California residents, and businesses. Local water supply sources meet only about half of the region's total water needs. To fulfill the remaining demand, MWDOC buys imported water from the California State Water Project in northern California and the Colorado River through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan). MWDOC delivers water to its 27 member agencies - made up of both water districts and city water departments - who then, in turn, provide retail water service to the public.
Orange County Parks, more commonly abbreviated to OC Parks, is a government agency that maintains and oversees the public parks of Orange County, California. The agency operates both natural and manmade parks of the region. OC Parks is responsible for 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of inland and coastal open space that collectively receives millions of visitors every year.
The 2022 Orange County Board of Supervisors elections were held on June 7 and November 8, 2022. Three of the five seats of the Orange County, California Board of Supervisors were up for election. This was the first set of elections held after the 2020 redistricting cycle. County elections in California are officially nonpartisan. A two-round system was used for the election, starting with the first round in June. Runoffs were held in all three districts, as no candidate managed to reach the 50% + 1 threshold.