PORT HUENEME : City Delays Talks on Recycling Plant

The Port Hueneme City Council on Wednesday voted to hold off on discussions with Oxnard over that city’s proposal to build a recycling facility for the West County.

In a 5-0 vote, the council decided to delay a decision about joining Oxnard’s effort to build a Materials Recovery Facility until Port Hueneme officials could review a report from a countywide organization of city managers.

The report is expected to be a nonpartisan effort to decide where to build a waste recovery facility after months of political mudslinging. Ultimately, it will recommend one of two proposed sites, one in Camarillo and one in Oxnard, officials said.

The council did, however, give its stamp of approval to holding a joint session with Oxnard leaders in which the cities will discuss issues of mutual interest. The meeting, set for May 19 at the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center, will take place at 5:30 p.m., before the regular council meeting.

Topics will include everything from the feasibility of cooperating on police, fire and animal control services to removing a Ventura Road billboard that lies on the cities’ shared border, Port Hueneme City Manager Dick Velthoen said.

“I think everybody who is knowledgeable is for a regional MRF,” Velthoen said. “The problem is there have been two factions trying to produce a regional MRF and there has been lots of politics between the two factions.”