ELECTIONS / BOARD OF SUPERVISORS : Schillo Backs New District for Port Hueneme

Ventura County supervisorial candidate Frank Schillo said Thursday that if elected, he will push for new library and transit services for Oak Park and work to have Port Hueneme included in a more appropriate supervisorial district in the west county.

The veteran Thousand Oaks councilman is running against taxpayer advocate H. Jere Robings for the 2nd District supervisor’s seat now held by Maria VanderKolk, who will not seek reelection. Her district represents most of the Conejo Valley, Oak Park and Port Hueneme.

So far, Schillo and Robings are the only officially declared candidates in the race. But four other residents have taken out nomination papers.

Schillo, during a press conference in Oak Park, proposed building a new satellite library in that unincorporated community of more than 14,000 residents. The facility would be part of a larger library system and could include the cities of Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Calabasas and the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Schillo said he plans to call a meeting of all parties that would be included in the proposed library system to try to work out some arrangement.

“We don’t know exactly how all of this is going to shake out,” Schillo said. “That’s the whole idea of getting everyone together and saying what is it we can do to make everyone happy.”

If elected to county office, Schillo said another priority would be to try to move the city of Port Hueneme into another supervisorial district where it could be better represented, possibly the 5th District now represented by Supervisor John K. Flynn. That district includes Oxnard and part of Ventura.

“As far as Port Hueneme is concerned, I feel strongly it should not be part of this district,” Schillo said. “People down there have told me that they don’t have anything in common with Thousand Oaks. It’s so far away. They have different issues and concerns.”

Robings agreed that the 2nd District’s boundaries should be adjusted and Port Hueneme moved to a west county district. He said that each district must have a balanced population and that this might be accomplished by incorporating some of Lang Ranch in Thousand Oaks into the 2nd District.

“There should be some adjustment of the district,” said Robings, a resident of Thousand Oaks.

As for the library issue, Robings said it is mainly a financial issue.

“The community of Oak Park is not large enough to support its own library,” he said. “They like staying as a county service district but because of its size, they don’t have enough financial support for the services they want.”

Robings said he also had serious reservations about Schillo’s plan for a regional library system.

“I have no idea how that would work,” he said. “If you try to set up a system that crosses county lines, you may spend a few years trying to put the operation together.”

Oak Park residents, who have lobbied for a library for years, must now pay an annual $55 fee to check out books and use reference materials at the Thousand Oaks Library. Schillo said under his plan, Oak Park would have its own library, as well as free use of the Thousand Oaks library.

Schillo said he would also like to see bus service extended to Oak Park, but Robings said he would need more information on how much this would cost before he could endorse such a plan.

In other issues, Schillo said the county should share with its 10 cities $26 million in revenues derived from the Proposition 172 half-cent sales tax. The statewide sales tax measure was approved by voters in November to help local governments pay for law enforcement and fire services.

County officials are considering spending most of the revenues on the Todd Road jail under construction near Santa Paula, increases in sheriff’s patrols and staffing of the district attorney’s office.

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Schillo proposed that the county give a 10% rebate of Proposition 172 funding to the cities, dividing the money among themselves, to help pay for local law enforcement services.

“We need that money for crossing guards and additional police services for gangs,” he said, referring to the east county.

But Robings said he did not believe that there was enough money to give the cities a rebate. Besides, he said, the money is being used for countywide services, such as the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office.

“There are a lot of county services already going to the cities,” he said. “I don’t think we should be cutting up Proposition 172 money.”

Schillo was officially endorsed Thursday by Ron Stark, a longtime member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council who had planned to run county supervisor but decided to bow out after talking with Schillo.

The four other residents who have taken out nomination papers for the seat are former County Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer, former Assembly candidate Alan Guggenheim, county Corrections Officer David Goodman and Oak Park resident Alan H. Knapp.

Also, two Conejo Valley residents have launched a campaign to draft former Ventura County Supervisor Ed Jones as a candidate.