Orange County hears annual reports from advisory boards: arts, economic development, visitors bureau and aging among updates

Orange County commissioners received annual updates from multiple advisory boards at the March 11 work session, hearing reports on grant distributions, tourism metrics, arts programming and aging services.

Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board representatives reported distributing $1,315,000 back to the community in the last fiscal year, including approximately $184,000 to law enforcement agencies and $291,000 to nonprofit organizations such as Grow Your World, Reentry House, the Freedom House Orange Partnership and El Centro Hispano. The board also reported transferring roughly $840,000 to the county fund. ABC representatives said grant decisions reflected requests and how proposals addressed alcohol-education priorities.

Kristen Young, chair of the Economic Development Advisory Board, told commissioners the county recently marked the Morinaga expansion, which she said represents $136,000,000 in new capital investment and 100,000 square feet of production space. The board said it had approved 31…