Supervisor Calls for Reviews of Advisory Panels : Government: County workers plan a survey to determine which of the nearly 70 groups have outlived their usefulness.

Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk would like the county to look at getting rid of advisory committees that may not be working efficiently.

At VanderKolk’s request, county workers are planning to send out a two-page survey that asks nearly 70 boards and commissions to list their goals and achievements.

VanderKolk said she sought the review after hearing complaints from some of her appointees that they were “spinning their wheels” at meetings.

Three people resigned from the self-esteem commission “because there just wasn’t anything going on there,” she said.

Most county commissions are staffed by volunteers appointed by members of the Board of Supervisors. They advise the supervisors on everything from manure odors to historical landmarks.

Committee members don’t get paid for the hours they put in. But the committees require county staff members to schedule and attend regular meetings, and the staff members’ time costs the county money, VanderKolk said.

VanderKolk said supervisors should evaluate the goals of the committees, and if they fail to live up to their mission, “we ought to get rid of them.”

County analyst Terry Dryer said results of the survey are expected to come back to the board within a month.

Among the committees most likely to face elimination are those formed for a single purpose that is now obsolete or committees that duplicate another committee’s activities, Dryer said.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Freeze Damage, for example, was formed by the board to deal with the economic effects of the devastating winter of 1990, said Al Escoto, an aide to Supervisor Maggie Kildee, the committee’s chairwoman.

“At the end of last year, it sort of got phased out,” Escoto said. “At this point we really don’t see a need for it.”

The Santa Rosa Valley Advisory Committee was formed about two years ago to give residents a sounding board for proposed development.

Howard Hamilton, a committee member and an associate superintendent for the Pleasant Valley Unified School District, said he would not mind if the county determines that his committee has fulfilled its purpose.

“It’s kind of in a stall mode right now,” he said. “Some committees are there because somebody appointed it five years ago, and if the issue no longer exists, it needs to be eliminated.”

Al Jeffries, chairman of the 20-member Ventura County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said he welcomed the county’s review. The council meets monthly and advises the drug and alcohol department on needed programs. Because it was created by the state, it probably will not be cut.

If VanderKolk does investigate the group’s activities, Jeffries said, “what she would discover is that we do a good job.”

Other groups toil obscurely, such as the Egg Production Industry Advisory Committee, a task force made up of egg producers, Fillmore city and county planning officials.

The group was created about three years ago to resolve complaints from Fillmore residents about the strong odors from manure produced at Moorpark’s two egg ranches.

Fillmore Councilwoman Linda Brewster agreed that there are too many county committees whose purpose is unclear.

However, she said city residents still complain about the odors, and the committee has still not found a solution.

“I hate to see the committee go away, because we still have the problem,” she said. “I would like to see our particular problem solved before we disband this group.”