City gets first look at internal report

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- An investigation to find out whether any employees

knew that the city was improperly dumping waste has been completed, but

officials said that findings won’t be available for a week or more.

Until then, officials say, it is not known whether any employees acted

improperly or whether any disciplinary action could take place.

For about 12 years, the city has been mixing some sewer debris --

mostly sand, eggshells and raw human waste -- with debris from storm

drains. Waste from these two sources, which was combined in a receptacle

called a dewatering basin, was then sent to the Frank R. Bowerman

Landfill in Irvine.

Concerns that this practice caused dangerous heavy metals to be sent

to the landfill were assuaged last month after tests showed no presence

of such metals.

Nonetheless, city officials want to know whether any city staff over

the last 12 years knew it was improper and potentially hazardous to

combine the two types of waste.

The Costa Mesa law firm Rutan & Tucker LLP has interviewed city

employees and is preparing a report on its findings. In a meeting

Thursday, city officials reviewed a draft of the report, but said they

did not yet know whether any employees acted improperly, Assistant City

Manager Dave Kiff said.

The final report is expected in about a week.