OXNARD : Council Won’t Fund Business Counseling

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday rejected a proposal to hire a Van Nuys consultant to provide 1,000 hours of free counseling and training to the city’s small business owners and managers.

On a 2-2 vote, with Mayor Nao Takasugi absent, the council refused to split the $50,000 cost of establishing a small business development center at the Chamber of Commerce offices.

The Valley Economic Development Center, awarded a state grant to establish such centers, had proposed opening the facility to help small business owners prepare marketing plans and to provide other technical assistance. The grant would have been used to pay for the other half of the program.

Council members Michael Plisky and Dorothy Maron opposed the idea.

“If we were flush, it would make no difference,” Maron said. “But we are not flush, so we have to harbor our dollars.”

At a time when small businesses are leaving Oxnard, city staff and Chamber of Commerce members suggested providing the assistance and paying the city’s share of the nine-month program with federal Community Development Block Grant money earmarked for business development.

“This program is important given the current economic climate,” chamber Executive Director George Scarvelis told the council.

But Maron and Plisky argued that the city was not taking advantage of other, less expensive services provided to Oxnard’s small businesses.

“I think this is a well-intentioned program,” Plisky said. “But I think the best way we can help the business community is to leave them alone and stay out of their back pockets.”

The Van Nuys agency has been awarded a grant by the state Department of Commerce to establish development centers for small businesses throughout Ventura County and northern Los Angeles County.