CAMARILLO : Council Postpones Water District Study

The Camarillo City Council has postponed a study of a proposed city takeover of 4,600 Camrosa Water District customers in eastern Camarillo.

Council members voted Wednesday to wait until the June release of a study by the Ventura County grand jury, which has recommended the takeover. The council also wanted to wait until the Metropolitan Water District increases its rates in July.

In the meantime, the council directed city staff to compare Camrosa’s and Camarillo’s water and sewer rates.

Camrosa directors, who initially expressed their opposition to the proposal, have since suggested taking no action on the plan. Several directors also have said that the cost of studying the proposal’s feasibility alone would be prohibitive.

Camrosa Director Jeffrey C. Brown has called the proposal “a revenue grab by the city.”

The council members expressed varying degrees of interest in studying the grand jury’s recommendation further.

“I don’t see any reason to go any farther with this,” Vice Mayor Charlotte Craven said. “I think we should just drop it.”

But Councilman David Smith said the grand jury report may contain some valuable information.

“We don’t know (enough) about it to decide whether to drop it or pursue it at this time,” he said.

Like the Camrosa directors, Councilman Ken Gose questioned how the grand jury could ask the two parties to act on the recommendation without sending them any justification.