CAMARILLO : City Delays Pullout From Association

The Camarillo City Council has decided to pay its dues for the Southern California Assn. of Governments, delaying until summer the council’s long-threatened decision to withdraw.

At a meeting Wednesday night, a majority of the council voted to pay the $2,507 in dues for fiscal 1991, which ends in June.

“There was a feeling we owed the dues because we didn’t tell them earlier in the year we were withdrawing,” said Mayor David Smith, who joined the majority in voting to remain in the group of Southern California governments that handles regional planning issues. “The intent is still to withdraw from SCAG at the beginning of next fiscal year, July 1,” the mayor said.

Councilwoman Charlotte Craven cast the lone vote against paying the dues, saying the city should withdraw immediately from SCAG because it fails to represent the interest of smaller cities.

SCAG includes cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and Ventura counties and several others in the Southland. It has little power over local governments, and cities can pull out at any time.

But Smith said council members are unhappy with what they view as the group’s excessive scope. “Our belief is that the SCAG region is far too large for us in Ventura County to have any representation,” he said. Last October, the council sent a letter to each county city urging SCAG withdrawal and formation of a coalition with Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.