OJAI : 29 Selected to Study Valleywide City Idea

The Ojai City Council has appointed 29 Ojai Valley residents to examine public interest in forming a valleywide city.

The council members apologized Tuesday that they could not appoint all 80 applicants to the new advisory committee, but expressed delight that so many people had applied to serve.

“There is no better government than when the people step forward and say they’d like to be a part of it,” Mayor Nina V. Shelley said.

The council also adopted a mission statement for the committee to “make recommendations to the council on if, and why, the community would benefit from a more unified local government” and how it can best be achieved.

The group is expected to make a final recommendation before the end of the year, officials said.

The city of Ojai has 7,613 residents; the valleywide population is about 33,000.

Councilmen James Loebl and Joseph DeVito, who recommended the appointments, noted that they did not ask applicants if they think that Ojai Valley should become one city. “I’m really interested to see what direction they want this valley to go and if they want a valleywide city,” DeVito said.

The council appointed Mansfield Sprague, an east end resident and former general counsel to the U.S. Defense Department, as committee chairman. Lanie J. Springer, honorary mayor of Oak View, and Wesley Kent of Mira Monte, a past chairman of the Ventura River Valley Municipal Advisory Council, were appointed co-vice chairmen.

Other members include two people from the Upper Ojai Valley, one from Casitas Springs, two from the West Hills area, five from the city of Ojai, five more from the East End, three others from Mira Monte, four from Meiners Oaks and four more from Oak View.