ELECTIONS : Officials Predict 20% Turnout at the Polls

A low turnout is expected today as Ventura County voters pick school board members in seven districts, choose two community college trustees and decide whether they want a new direction on the Ventura City Council.

County election officials estimate that 20% of the county’s 301,947 voters will cast ballots. In Ventura, where 18 candidates are vying for three council seats, officials predict a 35% turnout.

“There are large areas of the county where they only have one issue to vote on,” said Bruce Bradley, the county’s assistant registrar of voters. “That means voter turnout will be low.”

Bradley said nearly 18,000 residents have mailed in their ballots rather than go to the polls--50% more than two years ago.

“People are staying home,” Bradley said. “It’s the trend. It’s the future, at least for the foreseeable future.”

In Ventura, where a burgeoning slow-growth movement swept three candidates into office in 1989, pro-business candidates have campaigned this year on the need to bolster the local economy, playing down differences over growth issues.

Incumbent Donald Villeneuve, who favors slow growth, has been challenged by candidates who question council decisions on water rationing, developer fees and sewer and trash rates.

Outside of Ventura, most voters will have only school board races on their ballots.

In Camarillo, voters will decide two controversial issues--a $55-million school bond measure and an attempted recall of three Camrosa Water District directors.

Approval of Measure H would provide the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District with money to build a new elementary school in fast-growing east Camarillo and to renovate the district’s 14 campuses.

A two-thirds vote is required for approval.

A $75-million bond measure backed by the school district failed in June. It received 60% of the vote.

After the defeat, backers dropped a proposal for a new intermediate school and new buildings at other schools.

Voters will also decide whether to elect five new directors for the Camrosa district, which supplies water to 25,000 residents and 200 farmers in east Camarillo and the Santa Rosa Valley.

The directors have been the target of bitter criticism since they voted in May to reduce water use while raising rates.

Though the board rolled back the rate increase this month, recall organizers say the move is “too little, too late” to prevent the directors’ ouster.

Directors targeted by the recall are board Chairman Jack C. Rogers, William Goth and Kenneth P. Gerry.

Two other incumbents chose not to seek reelection.

Running unopposed for one seat is Timothy H. Hoag, a pharmacist.

Running for the second seat are Deborah C. Reynolds, an employee of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, and Ronald J. Vogel, president of a tool manufacturing company.

Recall leaders charged that the incumbents mishandled the rate increases in May and failed to adequately inform the district’s customers before the increases.

“The existing board members were incapable of dealing with a crisis when it occurred,” said Jeffrey Brown, an investment banker who is running for the Division 2 seat now held by Goth.

But the incumbents have defended the rate hike and said the recall movement was sparked by the district’s largest water wasters.

“I think they want to take over the district so they can change the rates to fit their own purposes,” Rogers said.

Meanwhile, residents of two unincorporated areas in Ventura County will go to the polls to elect representatives to their municipal advisory boards.

Voters in the Oak Park area between Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills will vote for four candidates running for two seats on the five-member advisory board.

One incumbent, John Kruer, will run against Ramona L. Spradling, a property manager.

For the second seat, voters will pick between George Anterasian, a physician, and Joyce Shimkus, a 3M executive.

Two seats in the Ventura River Valley Municipal Advisory Board, an unincorporated area near Ojai, are up for grabs.

Gerhard Orthuber is running unopposed for reelection in Division 2, but in Division 4 incumbent Joan Kemper faces a challenge from Lanie Jo Springer, an educational analyst.

Also at stake Tuesday will be two seats on the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees and two seats on the County Board of Education.

In the eastern portion of the county, voters in the Las Virgenes Unified School District will decide whether to authorize a special annual tax of $150 on each parcel within the district for four years.

The money will be used to restore budget cuts, reduce class size and restore seventh-period elective classes.

Nearly 170 polling places countywide will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.