Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/author/ngerda/)
Nick covers the city of Santa Ana, as well as the County of Orange, often reporting on issues like homelessness, public safety, mental health, and the role of money in politics. Since joining Voice of OC in 2011, Nick has regularly shed light on topics that are often kept in the shadows. He’s reported on systemic problems in the county’s mental health system. He also led a reporting team that produced sophisticated looks at how the Disney corporation campaign contributions influenced recent elections in Anaheim. Nick also revealed evidence of elected leaders using their official powers to apparently pressure government contractors into donating to their election campaigns, in an article that was awarded best news story of the year by the Orange County Press Club. He firmly believes journalism should inform the public and help hold the powerful accountable. An Orange County native, Nick first started covering local government in his mid-teens, before attending Santa Ana College, the American University in Cairo, and UC Irvine, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Languages spoken: English, elementary Spanish, minimal Arabic and minimal Japanese Areas of expertise: Local government, local politics, homelessness, mental health policy, campaign finance, California Public Records Act, Ralph M. Brown Act, County of Orange government, Santa Ana city government and municipal finance.
The rate at which children were hospitalized for serious mental illnesses rose 87 percent over a nine year period, according to the annual Conditions of Children in Orange County report.
Most Orange County employees are on track to get 2.5-percent annual raises for most of the next three years, on the heels of larger raises for sheriff’s deputies approved two weeks ago.
Plans call for mental health and drug addiction treatment programs to be available to all county residents, regardless of who their insurance provider is, which officials said would be the first facility in the nation to do so.
The Sheriff’s Department is examining an event at the fire agency’s headquarters that triggered concerns about using government resources for political campaigning.
In heated arguments over the appointment of Frank Davies as Auditor Controller, Orange County Supervisors air concerns about his dead predecessor’s lax staff oversight calling for a Performance Audit of the department.
County supervisors approved the raises without public discussion Tuesday.
The handling of the appointment for a new Orange County Auditor Controller is raising concerns that county supervisors may have violated transparency laws.
County officials are supporting the deal as a sound decision that creates certainty about the next four years of deputy pay, while a fiscal conservative who formerly led the California Republican Party raises alarm bells about its size.
Orange County is looking to replace its top fiscal watchdog, Auditor Controller Eric Woolery, who died suddenly in August, with a former longtime employee at the agency he ran.
Orange County Sheriff’s officials outspent their revenues by $33 million during this last fiscal year – prompting county officials to pull millions of dollars from other departments like the Health Care Agency to cover the shortfall.