Twenty-two times this year, Orange County supervisors approved contracts, payments, and grants after the fact, but the County’s own rules say retroactive contracts are not permitted. Is the bureaucracy’s deal-making usurping the authority of elected officials?
Author Archives: Michael Mavrovouniotis
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: County Government Wants Your Input on a Budget It Won’t Show You
Orange County has opened a public comment period on its next five-year financial plan. But it has not opened its books. The OC budget is thick in paper and theatrical outreach, but thin on substance.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: The County Animal Shelter has a Data Integrity Problem
Numbers don’t add up at OC Animal Care, and it’s not the first time. In shelter statistics, animals inexplicably vanish between reports. The billing calculations are based on faulty data as well. Why do the county and OC cities allow this?
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: County Government Should Clean House
Thirty years after the Orange County bankruptcy, OC government is plagued by corruption, opacity, and lack of accountability. The Andrew Do scandal wasn’t an accident. In the upper echelons of the county bureaucracy, ignorance rules and disinformation is routine, hobbling county services. Reform is long overdue.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: Senior County Managers Enabled the Andrew Do Scandal
A number of county executives connected to the Andrew Do – Viet America Society scandal left quietly. Two key figures implicated in the scandal still hold high office. One is Andrew Do himself, whose term will end this year. The other is Dylan Wright, Director of OC Community Resources.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: The OC Animal Shelter Director is All Image and No Substance
The county bureaucracy prefers political spinning over operational knowledge and experience. That’s why they chose Monica Schmidt for OC Animal Care Director. She overstated her animal sheltering qualifications to get the job, and she habitually misleads the community and elected officials.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: What Should Be the Qualifications and Responsibilities for the Next Director of OC Animal Care?
The animal shelter needed a director months ago. The delay was harmful. The opening, posted November 7, cites the Strategic Plan, the need for accurate records, and reducing length of stay. That’s a good start. The county must now select and empower a knowledgeable leader to see these priorities through.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: The OC Animal Shelter Lied About Its Safety Record. It Needed an Excuse to Keep the Kennels Off-Limits and Ditch Its Strategic Plan.
The county misinformed the public and the Grand Jury. It understated the number of bites that occurred at the animal shelter. In reality, shelter policies resulted in no safety improvements. False statistics served as a smokescreen for disregarding the Strategic Plan, blocking public access, and lowering animal care standards.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Mavrovouniotis: How to Fix OC Animal Care? Use the Strategic Plan!
OC Community Resources is mismanaging the animal shelter. More animals are getting killed. Animal care and behavior assessment are substandard, creating dangerous conditions. Kennel staff and volunteers are exhausted. There’s a solution: Implement the animal shelter’s Strategic Plan. Get off pandemic mode. Re-open the kennel areas to adopters.
