THOUSAND OAKS : Recall Leader Bauer Seeks Council Seat

A Thousand Oaks activist who led an unsuccessful bid to recall two Thousand Oaks city councilmen announced Thursday that he will seek election to the council in November.

Kenneth W. Bauer, 43, human resources manager for ARCO Products Co., said he will try for one of the two seats at stake. One of the posts is occupied by Frank Schillo, one of the council members Bauer sought to oust.

But Bauer said his election bid will not target a specific incumbent.

“I’m just saying the city needs new leadership,” he said. “I’m going to offer the voters an alternative.”

The recall group, 1000 Oaks Recall Committee, was formed in mid-1991 to protest the council’s plans to build a new City Hall and civic arts plaza on the former Jungleland animal park property. Bauer, who was chairman of the group, said the project is too expensive and will cause environmental damage.

Early this year, the committee failed to obtain enough signatures to recall Schillo and Councilman Alex Fiore. Fiore is not facing reelection this year.

Bauer said he is a slow-growth candidate who will seek to preserve Thousand Oaks’ semirural character and encourage more public participation in the city’s governing process.

Schillo said he will likely announce today whether he will run for reelection. He said he had expected Bauer to run.

“I am not the least surprised,” Schillo said. “That was why he was running the recall, so that he could get a seat on the council. He hoped that if we were recalled, he could run for a seat.”

He denied Bauer’s assertion that council members turned a deaf ear toward residents’ complaints about the Jungleland project. Schillo said the council has had numerous hearings on the proposal. “What it boils down to is that he just didn’t like the decision,” he said.

Mayor Bob Lewis, whose council seat is also at stake in the November election, had not announced by Thursday whether he intends to seek reelection.