VENTURA : Council Rejects Plan to Dip Into Reserves

Accusing Ventura City Councilman James Monahan of grandstanding for political purposes, fellow council members shot down a proposal to take money out of city reserves rather than cut police and fire department budgets.

“You set all the rest of us up,” said Councilman Tom Buford, who accused Monahan of playing up to police officers and firefighters in order to get votes in November.

“You’re making us look as though we don’t care about police and fire if we vote against it,” he said.

But Monahan defended himself. “I’m not grandstanding,” he said.

“The city’s very basic needs are police and fire,” Monahan said at Monday night’s council meeting. “If we don’t have anything else, we need police and fire protection.”

Police and fire union officials supported Monahan, saying that when council members passed the city’s budget last month, they endangered public safety by cutting the city’s traffic enforcement unit and reducing staffing at the Ventura Avenue Fire Station.

Monahan proposed taking about $1.1 million out of the city’s reserves instead. The council voted 5 to 1 against the plan, with Councilman Jack Tingstrom absent and Monahan casting the only vote in favor.

Union officials said after the meeting that they were not surprised by the council’s rejection of Monahan’s proposal, and that they would now direct their efforts to the upcoming City Council elections.

Police Cpl. John Garner, president of the union, said: “We haven’t decided who we’ll target yet . . . but Monahan will likely get our support.”