ELECTIONS BALLOT MEASURE : Oak Park Issue Caught Up in Politics

Oak Park residents may get a chance to vote on the future of their unincorporated enclave this spring if the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approves a proposal to place an advisory measure on the June ballot.

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk has asked the board to authorize $8,500 for a ballot measure offering Oak Park voters three options: incorporate as an independent city, become part of Thousand Oaks, or continue as an unincorporated community.

But her recommendation--to be voted on at Tuesday’s board meeting--has become entangled in election-year politics.

With VanderKolk set to retire when her term ends in January, 1995, two candidates for her seat have seized on the ballot proposal as an issue sure to attract the attention of Oak Park voters.

In announcing his candidacy for VanderKolk’s seat representing the Conejo Valley, Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo this week said an advisory election would be a waste of money.

“My concern for Oak Park is that residents there resent the fact that they have to spend their money . . . to put it on the ballot,” Schillo said. “I think the same thing could be accomplished cheaper in a town hall forum.”

Money for an Oak Park ballot measure would come from the county’s community service account earmarked for public works projects in the tiny enclave.

Normally, money from that fund is used to pay for Oak Park’s street sweeping and maintenance, street median landscaping and bike path renovations. The account, which contains roughly $300,000, also funds salaries for school crossing guards, said Steve Williams of the county’s Public Works Department.

“Money that would be spent on the election could buy a lot of books for the library, keep the library open a lot longer or pay for a new crossing guard,” said Ron Stark, a member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council. Stark has been considering running for supervisor, but said this week that he may instead throw his support to Schillo.

Another Municipal Advisory Council member, however, said Schillo’s town meeting idea seemed impractical. While the forum would certainly draw a large turnout, George Anterasian said, any informal discussion would lack the authoritative weight of an official ballot tally.

“It’s a pretty important decision to leave up to a show of hands,” agreed H. Jere Robings, who has announced plans to run against Schillo in the supervisor’s race. “You don’t know who would be in the audience, who would be raising their hands, or who would be counting.”

Normally a tight-fisted guardian of taxpayer dollars, Robings said he considered a ballot measure a worthwhile expense.

VanderKolk, too, insisted that only an official vote would provide an unequivocal picture of what Oak Park’s 2,500 residents want for their future.

“I don’t care what anyone else says, this is my term and these are my decisions and it’s going to go on the ballot,” VanderKolk said. “I can guarantee you that a town meeting . . . would not give you any idea what the majority thinks.”