Newport Beach has named Costa Mesa’s development director, Kimberly Brandt, to be director of its newly consolidated community services department.
“I’ve worked with Kim on regional and aviation committees and issues for a number of years,” said City Manager Dave Kiff. “She is exceptionally well-versed in community development and municipal planning and has an innate ability to work through challenging processes and problems. I believe we have made some major strides in making our community development process more customer-friendly, and Kim will continue that effort.”
Newport Beach recently merged its Planning and Building Departments into a single, Community Development Department. The newly formed department is responsible for advanced, environmental and current planning; building plan check and inspection services; economic development, housing; zoning; and code enforcement.
Costa Mesa effected a similar consolidation of its building and planning functions in the last decade.
“We were looking for someone used to working in that model,” Kiff said.
Brandt will direct a staff of 51 full-time employees and manage an annual budget of approximately $7 million.
Brandt currently is the development services director for the City of Costa Mesa and the executive director of the Costa Mesa Redevelopment Agency.
She led several prominent and award-winning projects during the two decades she has worked for Costa Mesa, including the development of the Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater, a 315,000-square-foot IKEA, the 200,000-square-foot Emulex corporate headquarters, and the entitlement of eight new high-rise residential towers in South Coast Plaza Town Center.
Why are we hiring people from Costa Mesa? Are these not the same people that bankrupted their own city??