Director’s firing shocks seniors, staff

Alex Coolman

COSTA MESA -- News of the sudden firing of Costa Mesa Senior Center

executive director Alan Michael Meyers sent a shock wave through the

center’s staff, senior citizens and city officials Wednesday.

Offices of the executive director and the director of development at the

center had their blinds drawn and were being examined by Costa Mesa

Police in the wake of Tuesday’s abrupt termination of Meyers.

The director was fired Tuesday evening after police presented to the

center’s board documents suggesting that Meyers may have misrepresented

his past, fabricated parts of his job history and covered up prior

criminal convictions.

The board held a series of meetings Wednesday with staff members to

explain what had happened and what it would mean for the center.

Lori Clause, president of the center’s board of directors, said many

staff members were “flabbergasted and shocked” by the overnight changes.

“This is not something that any one of us would ever have imagined,” she

said. “When I think about it, my mind gets boggled.”

The board will meet next week to discuss its options for seeking a new

director, she said.

Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said the city has launched “a

complete audit of all of the center’s financial records” in connection

with Meyers’ departure.

“We felt that we had enough reason to believe that a complete audit was

advisable both in the city’s interests and in the center’s interests,” he

said.

Roeder said the city has not seen any information that suggests any

financial misconduct had taken place at the senior center, which is

funded from by the city and private donations.

But whether or not any untoward financial details are revealed in the

audit, Roeder said the police report on Meyers taints the public image of

the center.

“Even if there’s not as much as a nickel missing,” he said, “there’s a

perception of what might have happened or what could have happened.”

The center’s board may need “to re-instill confidence of those who may

have heard of this and may question their contributions,” he said.

Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach, who served as the honorary

chairman of the center’s 1999 fund-raising campaign, described the news

about Meyers as “surreal.”

“Overall, the job that Alan Meyers has done as an executive director has

been satisfactory,” Moorlach said. “My reaction to this [news] was,

what’s the motive? Why?”

As copies of news reports circulated with coffee and doughnuts in the

center’s meeting room Wednesday, senior center regulars asked a few

questions of their own.

“Why wouldn’t they have checked him out before he got the job?” wondered

Armand Charest, a Costa Mesa resident who frequents the center.

Clause said the board had checked all of Meyers’ references before hiring

him and that they had appeared satisfactory.