ELECTIONS / MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COUNCIL : Oak Park Hopefuls Unite in Criticism of VanderKolk : The candidates say the community doesn’t get back what it gives to the county. They want a ZIP code, library and more.

The four candidates vying for three open seats on the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council in the Nov. 2 election are up in arms--not against each other--but against Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk.

Incumbents Kent Behringer, Barbara Bronson Gray and Ronald Stark and challenger J. Paul Fredericks agree on practically everything, including Oak Park’s need for its own ZIP code, a new library, quicker ambulance response to medical emergencies and access to a Thousand Oaks bus line.

What they agree on most, however, is that the county government is not responsive to the community’s needs. It is a claim VanderKolk denies.

“A lot of the things they want, I can’t do for them,” VanderKolk said. “Unfortunately, that is the reality for all politicians. I do the best I can.”

The candidates also pointedly accuse VanderKolk of undermining the role of the Municipal Advisory Council, or MAC, by attempting to cut the frequency of its meetings and trying to set the agenda for those meetings.

“We are not set up to succeed,” Gray said. “We are going to the supervisor, giving her advice that she doesn’t want. The community needs more direct democracy. We can’t make changes without any clout.”

As an unincorporated community, Oak Park has no official government mechanism such as a mayor or city council and relies on the county government to provide basic services.

The Board of Supervisors created the five-member Municipal Advisory Council in 1975 to improve communication between Oak Park residents and county officials. Specifically, the advisory council’s mandate was to examine local issues and advise the county supervisor whose district encompasses Oak Park.

The relationship between the advisory council and the supervisor has grown strained over the years with budget cuts and the affluent community’s perception that it is not getting enough back from the county.

“What we’re asking for is our fair share of the revenues we donate,” said Behringer, an engineer for the city of Inglewood. “Why can’t we have a simple thing like a bus running down Lindero Canyon Road? We kick in about $150,000 in revenue toward library services, but we only get back $80,000.”

VanderKolk agrees that there are inequities, saying: “Ultimately, the community does not get the services they deserve. The county cannot afford to give it to them. That is the bottom line of the problem.”

For that reason, the MAC has been working for years on ways to declare its independence from the county. The most obvious step, incorporating Oak Park as a city, has been rejected because there is not a strong enough commercial tax base to support the services an independent town must provide.

“All we have is Blockbuster Video!” said Gray, 38, who teaches nursing administration at UCLA and is also a free-lance writer.

The decision to drop the idea of cityhood is supported by all four candidates. But they have not dropped the idea of independence.

“One of our major problems is deciding the future of Oak Park’s government,” said Stark, 61, an original member of the MAC. “Hopefully, that will be resolved in the next year.”

The Municipal Advisory Council recently voted unanimously to explore taking over such services as parks, transportation, some utilities and landscaping through community-service districts. Fredericks, the only challenger in the race, supports the idea of those districts, which would allow services to be operated by an elected board of community members.

“The residents of Oak Park need to be in control of their destiny,” said Fredericks, 38, a budget administrator for Astro Aerospace Corp. in Carpinteria.

Until a decision is made on changing Oak Park’s government, however, the community must work with the county supervisor’s office on mutual concerns.

And, while VanderKolk and the four candidates all advocate improving the lines of communication, both sides acknowledge there are roadblocks to better relations.

At a recent community forum of Oak Park residents, Behringer explained the rift. “She is not used to consulting with us,” Behringer, 66, told a standing-room-only crowd. “She’s getting bad advice and she hasn’t learned how to deal with Oak Park.”

And then, to cheers and laughter, Behringer added: “We ended our last conversation on a high note. She tried to talk over me, but she wasn’t successful!”

VanderKolk said she understands the community anger. But her primary objection to the Municipal Advisory Council is its insistence in pursuing the same issues over and over, long after her office has made a decision about them.

“That’s a big frustration for me,” VanderKolk said. “They were and still are meeting on a monthly basis, taking up the time of my staff, going over and over issues that have already been decided.”

The supervisor has suggested that Oak Park become part of neighboring Thousand Oaks to receive its fair share of county services.

That idea does not excite Oak Park residents or the four candidates running to represent them on the MAC.

Each nominee has resolved to continue to fight for those issues VanderKolk’s office considers resolved: extending a bus line from Thousand Oaks, building a new library with dollars accrued from developer’s fees, fighting for Oak Park’s own ZIP code to save on insurance rates, and getting more direct representation for their taxation.