Costa Mesa Sanitary District

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District is a special district that manages trash and wastewater management in Costa Mesa. The district also oversees small portions of Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange County.

History
Following submittal of a petition submitted to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in June 1943, a special election was called in the borders of the proposed district to form the special district. At that election, held February 8, 1944, there were 471 votes in favor of forming the district and 145 against. The Board of Supervisors officially established the district on February 11, 1944. The first Board of Directors included Charles TeWinkle, who was elected as the first president, and Claire M. Nelson, who both would later go on to serve on the inaugural Costa Mesa City Council.

Jim Fitzpatrick was a board member elected in November 2010 who also began service on the Costa Mesa Planning Commission in December of that year. In 2012, the other four members of the Board sought to remove Fitzpatrick via lawsuit, contending that his service as a board member and as a Planning Commissioner was incompatible, which is not allowed under state law. Fitzpatrick resigned from the Planning Commission in May 2012, then from the District Board in January 2013, after reapplying to the Planning Commission that month.

Mesa Water District began exploring the possibility of a merger with the Costa Mesa Sanitary District in 2016. Mesa Water was in support of the merger, with the Sanitary District opposed to it. The question of a merger was put before the voters in an advisory measure, 2016's Measure TT. The measure passed, but as an advisory measure had no legal effect, and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District remained opposed and sued the Mesa Water District. In 2018, the lawsuit was finally settled.

In 2016, the district moved from their previous headquarters, in use since 2004, to their new larger facility and current headquarters.

In 2018, two controversies occurred in the district. A contractor was accused of overbilling the district by charging a higher than normal amount of hours. Also that year, a wastewater supervisor was accused of racism against employees. The issues were eventually settled in court in 2022.

Governance
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District is governed by a five-member Board of Directors, each elected to a four-year term. Beginning in 2020, the Directors were elected by geographic district, rather than at-large, after being threatened by a lawsuit from attorney Kevin Shenkman. The current members of the Board are: