County 12-3

Area nonprofit Direct Relief International received a 99-percent score for fundraising efficiency, according to a special report published by Forbes magazine this week. Forbes’s annual rating of the country’s top 200 charities calculates three efficiency ratios: charitable commitment, fundraising efficiency, and donor dependency. Only 14 other nonprofits nationwide received a 99-percent rating, two in California. This is the eighth year in a row that Direct Relief International has received a near-perfect score.

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Eric Onnen, a member of the Goleta City Council since 2006, was appointed mayor of the city in a ceremony on 12/1. The mayor’s position in Goleta is rotated every year among the group of councilmembers. Onnen, who owns Santa Barbara Airbus, replaces Roger Aceves as the chair of the board. Margaret Connell will serve as the mayor pro tempore for 2010.

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The Santa Barbara Airport is encouraging area retailers and restaurateurs to attend a meeting next Thursday that will offer information on vending opportunities within the airport’s new terminal. Slated to be completed in 2011, the second floor of the 67,000-square-foot terminal will act as the primary space for concessions and is expected to receive about 1,000 potential customers a day. The meeting will be held on 12/10 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Airport Departments’ Administration Conference Room at 601 Firestone Road.

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UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang convened a town hall forum on 11/30 to address student concerns related to budget cuts and the recent 32-percent increase in registration fees; only 40 people showed up at the 800-seat Campbell Hall. Students asked if Yang himself would take a furlough, as employees and faculty were forced to do. He said he will not because he works 16-hour days. Yang’s next forum, which will review staff and faculty concerns, is scheduled for 12/4 at 3:30 p.m. in Campbell Hall.