County Hires Ombudsman to Help Fire Victims In Recovery Process

Tony Nisich is available now to troubleshoot problems for residents beginning to rebuild after the Tea Fire.

By William Boyer | Published on 11.21.2008

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Santa Barbara County residents who live within the county’s unincorporated jurisdiction, including Montecito, now have a special ombudsman who can assist in troubleshooting potential problems as they begin the rebuilding process after the Tea Fire.

Tony Nisich has been hired by Santa Barbara County to immediately serve as ombudsman. He can be reached at 805.560.1098 or tnisich@countyofsb.org.

“Mr. Nisich is in a position to aggressively pursue resolutions for county residents to any rebuilding situation so that the Tea Fire survivors under county jurisdiction can move as quickly as possible in rebuilding their homes and lives,” First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal said.

Nisich is a state-registered, licensed civil engineer with a master’s degree in construction management from California State University, San Jose, who has more than 30 years of experience handling projects valued from $12 million to more than $900 million, in both the public and private sectors. He has executive and senior management experience in a wide range of public works, building and regulatory issues for disaster recovery, permitting and contract management, transportation issues, water, wastewater, streets, infrastructure and other environmental affairs.

He also has key recovery experience from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, as a government official and as a resident, which gives him a unique perspective on disaster rebuilding process from both a consumer and regulatory point of view, Carbajal said.

The ombudsman will help provide an additional path of quick customer service to property owners in addition to the project case managers who have been assigned to each parcel. The case managers will help guide the property owners through the rebuilding and permitting process, and Nisich will help resolve any additional issues that may occur, Carbajal said.

To date, the county already has issued about 24 permits to begin demolition and debris removal on the parcels in the unincorporated areas. There were about 90 parcels in county jurisdiction where homes, guest homes or other buildings were lost during the Tea Fire.

Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency also are advising all city and county residents who were affected by Tea Fire to call 800.621.3362 to register with FEMA as the first step in the recovery process with FEMA.

City and county officials, meanwhile, continue to work cooperatively to protect the Sycamore Creek Watershed and adjacent areas from flood damage as a result of the Tea Fire. Crews were out in key watershed areas Friday and will continue work next week.

Even before firefighters had extinguished the flames of the Tea Fire, public works officials were developing response plans to deal with the fire’s soil erosion impacts ands watershed damage. Sycamore Creek, from Highway 101 upstream to and within the burned area, is being cleared of debris. Debris basins along Sycamore Creek also are being cleared out and maintained.

William Boyer is Santa Barbara County‘s communications director.

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» Wait a MINUTE! wrote on 11.21.08 @ 06:50 PM

How much is this guy being paid to “aggressively pursue resolutions” at a time when veteran county planners and others are being “furloughed” for two weeks next month? This makes no sense.  This guy is retired from the City, his wife is an Assistant CEO with the County—-this stinks.

» Darcie wrote on 11.22.08 @ 03:53 AM

Thank you for this helpful information.  Is there going to be a ombudsman for residents living in the City?

» City Staff are ALL omsbusman-like wrote on 11.22.08 @ 09:38 AM

unlike the County the city didn’t feel the need to spend money we don’t have to hire someone to do what we are hired to do in the first place

» Annie wrote on 11.23.08 @ 06:29 AM

Not a good thing at a time like this when the county is “broke”......the money should be going to pay the people that are being laid off for 2 weeks.  If there wasn’t enough money to keep them working, where did the money appear for this person’s paycheck?  Something doesn’t seem right.

» neighbor wrote on 11.23.08 @ 01:56 PM

This “Ombudsman” thing reminds me of the Painted Cave Ombudsman fiasco: the County’s waste of money paying someone to duplicate work that was already being done by the regular staff, and slowing down the process by getting in the way.

The fact that the City “retired” Nisich not too long ago, and his marriage to a high level County Manager raise additional red flags in these austere times.

 

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