Simi, Thousand Oaks Councils, Supervisors to Take Summer Vacation

The Simi Valley City Council on Monday became the first of three large governmental bodies in Ventura County to take a summer recess, with no meetings scheduled until July 23.

The Thousand Oaks City Council and the county Board of Supervisors will be taking off the entire month of August, officials said. City councils in Ventura and Oxnard do not take summer recesses, spokesmen said.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said the council has been taking three-week summer recesses for more than a decade, primarily to help officials and staff members coordinate their vacations so that their schedules do not conflict later.

“That’s really the main thrust,” Stratton said. “We like to have the whole council” present at each meeting.

During the break, Stratton said council members will remain in close contact with City Hall and will be available in an emergency. He said if someone should happen to be out of town, the council can legally function with three members or, if necessary, the city can arrange for an official to return home.

Stratton said that council members and their staff work throughout the year to prepare for the break. He noted that last week the council held two meetings to take care of last-minute business before taking off.

Other key city officials, including City Manager M.L. Koester, will be on hand during the break, Stratton said.

Councilwoman Ann Rock said it is much easier for city officials to take a break during the summer than it would be at other times of the year.

“Things tend to slow down in the summer because a large number of your constituents are on vacation,” Rock said. “It’s a time when you don’t generally find a lot of pressing issues to deal with.”

Nancy Dillon, city clerk for Thousand Oaks, said the council’s annual recess offers some city staffers an opportunity to catch up on work that they may have had to put off because of their usually hectic schedules.

Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer, said that the primary advantage of having a regularly scheduled break is that it helps cut down on absenteeism by board members throughout the year. The board meets every Tuesday beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Still, Wittenberg said, the long break usually makes for a heavy workload when officials finally return from vacation.

“That’s the punishment for taking time off,” he said.