COSTA MESA : State Declines Job of Running Job Center

The state Employment Development Department, citing economic concerns, will not take over the Costa Mesa Job Center.

The move was considered earlier this year, but was delayed when former City Councilman Orville Amburgey, who helped establish the center to discourage dayworkers from seeking employment on city streets, intervened. Eventually, the state decided against taking over the center.

In a letter to City Manager Allan L. Roeder, EDD Director Thomas P. Nagle cited limited resources in detailing the department’s decision against operating the center.

“We would have to redirect resources and services away from other field offices (and) service points to staff the job center. The decision not to operate the job center was made so as not to adversely impact the operations and service delivery levels in the area,” Nagle wrote.

Amburgey, reached at his home Wednesday, said he hopes the Costa Mesa Job Center will now be used to screen out illegal immigrants and help reserve jobs for legal workers.

“I think the state did exactly what it should do and not become a part of that center,” he said.

Amburgey intervened in the proposed agreement because the state would not have required workers to show proof that they are legally allowed to work in the United States, as the city does. The state, said EDD spokeswoman Anita MacKenzie, places the burden of asking for proof on employers.

But Amburgey said that method, which the city adopted since the state takeover was approved by the City Council in February, has increased the number of illegal immigrants seeking work at the Job Center.

“How can you justify spending the taxpayers’ money to take jobs away from people who have taken the trouble to go through the process to become legal? That takes away their ability to provide a livelihood to their families,” he said.

The city must now decide whether to reduce some services to pay the $48,000 it will take to operate the center for the rest of the 1991-92 fiscal year.

“It will have to come out of existing programs,” Roeder said, adding that the city lost $670,000 when the state balanced its budget.

Roeder said he believes Amburgey’s intervention caused the initial delay in the proposed state takeover of the center but that budget concerns played into the final decision.

The City Council will hear Roeder’s recommendations for allocating funds for the center at its meeting on Monday .