A new year is upon us, and there are changes afoot within the bowels of the County of Orange.

Tim Neely, the county's director of planning, is retiring and word is Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante is the heir apparent to succeed him. Carlos is currently the director of administration for the OC Public Works Department. Congrats to Carlos on the likely promotion.

Justin McCusker, chief of staff to Sup. Pat Bates, is departing for greener pastures. He'll be filling the shoes of Paul Freeman, the long-time public affairs consigliere to the Segerstroms (South Coast Plaza, OCPAC, etc). Freeman is retiring from the post he has held for as long as I can remember. Congrats to Justin -- sounds like a great job.

Taking over as Sup. bates chief of staff will be Chip Monaco, a veteran of county government. Chip used to work for Sup. Todd Spitzer back in the day, including a stint as his chief of staff, and then did a tour of duty within county government. Sup. Bates called him up from Integrated Waste Management (now re-monikered as OC Waste & Recycling) early in her tenure to serve as deputy chief of staff. It's a good combo -- 5th Floor experience combined with first-hand knowledge of the bureaucracy and a political antenna. Congrats to Chip on moving up to the top staff spot.

Speaking of OC Waste & Recycling, Director Jan Goss, who has been at the agency since beyond memory, is retiring and the interview process is apparently underway. No congrats to give, yet.