BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS

-- Mathis Winkler

Newport Beach officials are looking for an interested community member

to take up the job of helping to control Orange County’s rodents and

insects.

Anyone filling the city’s seat on the board of trustees for the

county’s Vector Control District will be required to attend the board’s

monthly meetings. The term of the appointment would last until the end of

2002.

The district’s mission includes the management and control of animals,

including rodents, and insects that can transmit diseases, as well as

maintaining surveillance and protection programs for the diseases animals

and insects carry, City Clerk LaVonne Harkless said.

Board members receive $50 in compensation per meeting. The meetings

take place at 3:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month in Garden

Grove.

The board has 34 members -- one for each city in the county, as well

as one member representing the county’s unincorporated areas.

Applicants must live in Newport Beach. Applications will be reviewed

by City Council members, who will also make the appointment to the board.

The deadline for filing an application is 4 p.m. Thursday.

Information: (949) 644-3005.