Recall May Test Public’s Loyalty to 2 Veteran Councilmen : Thousand Oaks: Foes of a proposed civic center say they have the signatures to force Alex Fiore and Frank Schillo to face a ballot this summer.

They have been called visionary leaders by their supporters and arrogant dictators by their enemies.

Between them, they have dedicated 35 years of political life to the city of Thousand Oaks.

But soon, voters may have to put their loyalty for Councilmen Frank Schillo and Alex Fiore to the test.

Organizers of a movement to oust the councilmen say they will submit signatures on petitions this week demanding their removal from the City Council. If city and county officials are able to verify enough signatures, a recall election could be in the works by midsummer.

Backers of the recall say voter loyalty for the two men has eroded because of the councilmen’s unswerving support for a massive civic arts center that opponents believe few people want.

The campaign has not yet targeted Mayor Robert E. Lewis because if a majority of the council is recalled, the council could not function until the ousted council members are replaced. They plan to run a strong campaign against Lewis when he runs for reelection in November.

The civic arts plaza is the costliest and most controversial public project in the city’s 27-year history.

The new city hall and performing arts auditorium, to be built at the site of a former wild animal park called Jungleland, is expected to cost Thousand Oaks $63.8 million. The city paid an additional $21 million for the land.

The city has spent millions of dollars on architectural fees and site preparation. Construction is expected to begin this year.

As members of the council’s Jungleland committee, Schillo and Fiore steered the council through many of the decisions that shaped the project.

Since 1988, they have also opposed putting on the ballot two Jungleland-related measures that were proposed by opponents of the project, angering citizens who have repeatedly tried and failed to halt the project.

Until recently, neither councilman believed that the opposition could muster enough signatures to force them to fight for their council seats.

But recall leaders say they have gathered about 10,000 signatures on two different petitions.

“These are two people that have done a tremendous amount of good deeds for the city,” said Ken Bauer, chairman of the 1000 Oaks Recall Committee, which organized the petition drive. “There’s an arrogance there. They’ll do what they think is best for the people, irrespective of what we want.”

Bauer said that if two seats are vacant, the committee hopes to fill them with people who oppose the project.

Charles Davis, a Thousand Oaks resident for 26 years, said he has lost faith in Schillo and Fiore over the years.

Davis, a screenwriter and former executive director of the Conejo Players, served on the city’s arts commission when the issue of a cultural arts center was proposed, but decided to oppose the project when it became too costly.

“I voted for both of them,” Davis said. “But I just feel on this project they’ve been less than forthcoming. It’s a mixture of arrogance and paternalism, and the divine right of kings. I think they’ve exhibited a sort of contempt for the general public.”

Fiore, who retired in 1984 as vice president of finance for Rocketdyne, said he is preparing a strategy to counter the recall campaign, an effort that he characterized as unfair because it focuses on the Jungleland project rather than his political tenure.

One of the leaders of the movement to incorporate Thousand Oaks, Fiore was elected two years ago to his seventh term on the City Council. After finishing first among a dozen candidates, he promised that he would retire when his term ends in 1994.

It is not the first time that Fiore, 65, has been targeted for recall. In 1988, after he and a majority of the council refused to place an initiative on Jungleland on the ballot, he was targeted by the same group of citizens who oppose him now. That effort was subsequently abandoned.

During his 27 years in office, Fiore said, he has made more than 30,000 decisions.

“When you’re making 30,000 decisions, you have to ruffle the feathers of a few people,” he said. “You’re going to lose some support from somebody.”

Despite his tough-guy exterior, Fiore said the recall campaign has hurt him deeply.

At a recent council meeting, after he discovered that a longtime bridge partner had written a letter in opposition to the Jungleland project, Fiore took a few minutes out of the public-concerns period to express his feelings of betrayal to the audience.

“It was the most hurtful thing,” he said later. “How would you like to be dealing with someone that you felt was a friend for 15 years and find this out?”

Supporters say that he is intelligent and articulate, but that his abrupt and forthright style has angered those who do not agree with him.

J. Michael Hagopian, a longtime friend of Fiore and a campaign contributor, said the councilman has stirred strong emotions over his support for major developments such as The Oaks mall and a massive housing tract on the former MGM Ranch.

But Hagopian said most people forgive Fiore’s occasional abrasiveness because they believe that he is honest and hard-working.

“Alex doesn’t waffle, he doesn’t equivocate,” Hagopian said. “Sometimes when he comes out on a position, he may offend some people who are used to more polite talk. If some incompetent individual comes before him, he may cut him off.”

Fiore’s support lies mostly with the older, longtime residents of Thousand Oaks, said former county supervisor John Conlan, who heads a citizens group that has mobilized a Stop the Recall Committee.

Fiore is the only councilman who holds regular talks with the public, and many people believe that they can come to him with minor problems, such as potholes and sewers, Conlan said.

It is among those residents that Fiore has won easy reelection votes, he said.

“The little people are the ones he seems to pay the most attention to, to make sure they’re not had by City Hall,” Conlan said.

Although opponents do not always agree with Fiore, they acknowledge that he has been a dedicated administrator. But they believe that his abruptness proves that he has been around too long.

“It would be a shame to see Alex leave office under a cloud of recall after what he’s done for this city,” said Dick Booker, another leader of the 1000 Oaks Recall Committee. “But it’s always Alex’s way or no way. There’s no gray with him. It’s either black or white.”

Schillo, 58, a financial consultant, could run for reelection in November. He won a council seat in 1984 and again in 1988 with the second-highest number of votes. He has served on 32 City Council committees and county commissions.

Although he is sensitive about the attacks leveled against him, Schillo said he is buoyed by the amount of support that he receives each day from strangers.

In December, during a shopping excursion at The Oaks mall, a woman pulled up in a car beside him and honked her horn.

“She said, ‘I want you to know, we’re behind you 100%.’ Then in the mall, a man grabbed my hand and said, ‘We’re going to get those (people),’ ” Schillo said.

Schillo said he is dismayed by the charges that he is arrogant. Last year, he said, he held four meetings to hear public concerns about a variety of city issues, in addition to the 31 public meetings on Jungleland.

“I have bent over backward to listen to the public,” he said. “This is all any elected official can do.”

Schillo attacks his opponents for using the recall to oust him from office only a few months before his term ends in November.

“I don’t believe everybody loves the decisions I make, but I’m up for reelection in November, and if they don’t agree with me, they can wait a few months.”

Friends of Schillo say he has widespread support among middle-class and low-income voters and longtime residents of the city.

He is well-known for his volunteer work at Manna, a community food bank that distributes food to the needy, and Many Mansions, a nonprofit Thousand Oaks group that provides housing for low-income people.

“I have been with Frank Schillo at 4 a.m. going to Ventura to a mission up there to feed the poor,” said Marty Bates, a businessman and real estate salesman. “He is probably the most driving force for affordable housing in Thousand Oaks, and was before he was on the City Council.”

Schillo said he will wait for the signatures to be counted before he begins formulating a strategy to keep his seat.

“They may have 10,000 signatures, but they have to get them qualified first,” Schillo said. “The burden is on them, not on me.”