Tie MACs to Voters
According to The Times (Feb. 25), the Board of Supervisors might appoint municipal advisory councils in order to save the money spent on elections. I do not know about the Ventura River MAC, but Ventura County does not pay for the election of council members for the Oak Park MAC. These elections are budgeted by County Service Area No. 4, a local assessment district that only covers the area represented by the Oak Park MAC. If Oak Park elections were eliminated, Ventura County would not save a single dollar.
If the Oak Park MAC were appointed instead of elected, its role would be reversed by eliminating its independence. Instead of representing the community to the Board of Supervisors, the MAC would be reduced to representing the local county supervisor to the community. If the interests of Oak Park conflicted with the broader interests of our supervisor’s overall district, how could a MAC appointed by our supervisor (appointed by the Board of Supervisors after a recommendation from our local supervisor) oppose her? We need a MAC that is responsive to the local voters, not to the Supervisors.
Further, eliminating MAC elections would increase the election costs for the Oak Park school board. These two elections are combined, with costs being shared. Eliminating one election will only increase the costs for the other.
When a price is put on democracy, democracy suffers. In this case, the price is a false issue because Ventura County does not pay the cost.
DAVID E. ROSS
Oak Park
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