Supervisors Get Tougher With Solo Drivers : Air pollution: Under directive for county workers, measures such as car-pooling are linked to employment conditions.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided to take a tougher approach to getting county employees out of their cars in order to curb air pollution.

In a unanimous decision, the supervisors voted to make it a condition of employment that, at least one day a week, county workers must car-pool, ride a bus or find another way to work other than driving solo.

The board, however, has not decided how to implement its new directive or what penalties to levy against those who don’t car-pool. The panel is expected to take up the issue again next month.

“If you set it up as a condition of employment, that final step could be termination,” said Alan Bandoli, Ventura County employee transportation coordinator. “It will be up to the board.”

In related actions, board members decided not to renew a cash-incentive program and to encourage more telecommuting.

Although about 1,500 of the county’s 6,700 employees car-pool at least once a week, Supervisor Maggie Kildee said, “We need to get the cars off the road.”

Under Rule 210--the county’s strict trip-reduction ordinance adopted to help reduce air pollution--businesses and agencies employing 100 or more people must provide incentives to reduce the number of people driving alone to work.

On Tuesday, the supervisors said they are frustrated that the law puts pressure on the employers rather than the workers.

“The onus has to be shifted from the employer to the employees,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said.

VanderKolk advocated financial penalties for employees who do not find an alternate mode of transportation to work at least once a week. The board also voted unanimously to make department managers responsible for coming up with ideas to implement the decision.

Union officials on Tuesday said they are dubious about the success of such a mandate.

Barry Hammitt, executive director of the Service Employees International Union, Local 998, said, “Without incentives, I don’t hold out a lot of hope.”

Hammitt said some employees might have a difficult time complying with the new rule.

“There’s a whole lot of problems,” he said. “What do you do with people who have physical disabilities, or who live in areas where there is no public transportation?”

Chief County Counsel James McBride said the board has the authority to impose such a condition of employment, though union contracts might have to be renegotiated.

Supervisors had earlier asked Bandoli to devise alternatives to the cash-incentive plan as a means of saving money. From 1990 to November, 1993, the county paid workers $250 to $300 annually to car-pool, ride a bus, bicycle or walk to work an average of three days a week for 48 weeks.

The county spent about $330,000 annually on the program, Bandoli said.

Bandoli had recommended that the board approve a series of programs aimed at reaching a higher ride-share goal but said he did not expect the board to take a more stringent position.

Bandoli said he will look at ideas such as making employees pay higher parking fees if they drive to work alone.

“You make people make an economic choice,” he said.

The county is in compliance with the current mandate at 1.38 people per car. Under state law, if the average ridership does not reach 1.5 people per car by 1997, the county could be fined up to $25,000 daily, Bandoli said.

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