VanderKolk Seeks to Be Put Back on Budget Panel : Politics: The supervisor has requested to be returned to the committee that designs the county’s fiscal policy, a position she was ousted from last year.

With a year left on her term, Ventura County Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk is seeking reappointment to the county’s powerful budget committee--a position she was ousted from last year after a bitter dispute.

VanderKolk, who announced several weeks ago that she would not seek reelection, said she is determined to help craft the county’s fiscal policy during the remainder of her tenure. She has asked board Chairwoman Vicky Howard, who makes appointments to county committees, to put her back on the panel.

Howard said she will decide by Tuesday’s board meeting whether to grant VanderKolk’s request. The board is expected to approve Howard’s recommendations at its meeting this week.

“It’s something we have to talk over,” said Howard, who plans to meet with VanderKolk before the meeting.

Howard, who now serves on the 12-member budget panel, said she might consider stepping down to make room for VanderKolk.

“It’s certainly on the table,” Howard said. “I’m trying to do everything as chairman of the board to make everyone as congenial and as cooperative as possible. I don’t want anyone to feel that they were slighted.”

Since she was removed from the committee last year, VanderKolk said, she has been eager to get involved again in budget issues.

“I was really disappointed when I was taken off before,” said VanderKolk, who served on the panel for a year. “It is something I worked very hard on and educated myself on. I would like to be able to use that in my last year. I hope it comes to pass.”

The committee--which includes two supervisors and 10 other ranking county officials--meets once a month to formulate fiscal plans.

Of the county’s policy-setting panels, the budget committee is considered the most influential. Previously, the group has come up with such plans as the county’s four-day workweek and early retirement programs.

Every year, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors comes up with a list of new board appointees to the committee.

Last year, then-Chairwoman Susan K. Lacey recommended that VanderKolk be removed from the committee and Supervisor Maggie Kildee be put in her place. Lacey also proposed that Howard, who had served on the panel for two years, be retained for another year.

Despite VanderKolk’s pleas to remain on the panel, the board voted 3 to 2 to go along with Lacey’s recommendations. Supervisor John K. Flynn was the only board member to join VanderKolk in voting against the motion to oust her from the group.

Lacey said she simply wanted to get “fresh ideas” by bringing Kildee on board. She added that she wanted to leave Howard on the committee because she had more experience in county budget matters than VanderKolk.

But Flynn and VanderKolk aide Doug Johnson speculated that VanderKolk had “stepped on too many toes” during her stint on the committee.

“I think she was simply too independent for some, and that was the reason,” Flynn said.

Johnson said he believed that VanderKolk may have irked some of the county’s officials by successfully pushing to put Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury on the committee.

In recent years, Bradbury has come under criticism by officials for spending beyond his budget. He has also angered some supervisors by making fervent, highly publicized pleas for more money for his department. However, VanderKolk has said she thought that Bradbury’s input in development of the county’s budget was essential.

In addition to Bradbury, the committee includes Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon, county budget director Albert Bigler, Health Care Agency director Phillipp K. Wessels, Corrections Services Agency Director Frank C. Woodson and other ranking administrators.

“I would like to see Maria back on it,” Flynn said.

Flynn said he dislikes the idea of having a committee thrash out budget matters, arguing that the entire board should make fiscal policy.

“But as long as we have it, we should have someone who is independent.”