OJAI : City to Help Pay for Annexation Advice
The Ojai City Council voted Tuesday to help a citizens committee pay a consultant to guide the effort to create a valleywide city.
The council voted to give the Ojai Valley Local Government Options Committee nearly $3,000 to pay consultant Robert Braitman, former director of the Local Agency Formation Commission.
Braitman, who headed LAFCO for 18 years, resigned in October after a complaint was filed alleging that he sexually harassed a female co-worker. The complaint was later dropped.
Councilwoman Nina Shelley said Braitman’s land-use experience is incomparable.
“The city and the committee will benefit greatly from having him work on the annexation project,” she said.
LAFCO would have jurisdiction over any annexation plan that Ojai Valley residents propose.
The 30-member citizens committee, made up of residents from the city and the surrounding Ojai Valley, voted last month to hire Braitman, then asked the City Council and Ventura County to help pay his fees.
The city has already spent more than $11,000 on a local government options study, City Manager Andrew S. Belknap said, but $14,000 was budgeted for the 1991-92 fiscal year.
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