Bergeson Aide Leaves to Take City Post

Dave Kiff, an aide to Supervisor Marian Bergeson who worked extensively on the county’s bankruptcy recovery effort, is leaving county government for a job with the city of Orange.

Kiff, 31, has worked for Bergeson since 1988, when she was a state senator representing the Newport Beach area.

He moved to the county when Bergeson was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1994 and immediately plunged into bankruptcy-related policy work.

He helped develop Bergeson’s radical proposal to restructure county government by handing off many functions to cities and creating the post of an elected county mayor.

More recently, he worked with the Government Practices Oversight Committee, which spent more than a year producing several thick reports analyzing county operations and suggesting reforms.

Kiff, a Laguna Beach resident, begins work next week with the city of Orange, where he will be assistant to the city manager.

Dealing with the county’s $1.64-billion bankruptcy “has been an experience not worth repeating,” Kiff said Friday. “But it’s something worth having under your belt so you know what to look for.”