CCC Work Continues, at a Price : Oxnard: The council will spend $54,000 for the California Conservation Corps’ cleanup efforts. The service had been free.

After years of getting free labor from the California Conservation Corps, the Oxnard City Council on Tuesday agreed to start paying for the service rather than lose it.

The corps has for years provided workers to clean up parks and maintain landscaping in a number of Ventura County communities, but the cities have never been guaranteed how many crew members would be available.

So last fall, Oxnard and corps officials began negotiating an agreement that calls for Oxnard to spend $54,000 this fiscal year to pay for 10 workers with the understanding that the corps will donate four extra workers.

It is the first long-term agreement between the California Conservation Corps and a Ventura County city. Officials in Oxnard, the only city in the county to routinely use corps workers, say the deal is worth it to ensure steady, dependable help.

“We’re paying for 10 people at a very competitive rate with the minimum wage,” said Michael Henderson, superintendent of the city’s park division, who recommended the agreement to the council.

“Then we get the four free workers, which averages out to much less than the minimum wage,” he said. “So we get help at a competitive rate.”

The corps workers perform generally unskilled labor such as weed pulling, grounds maintenance, mowing and trimming--jobs that would cost substantially more if done by city staff or temporary employees, Henderson said.

The state picks up the tab for training and equipping the workers, who under the program are paid minimum wage and required to attend school at least three hours a week. The city of Oxnard reimburses the corps $4 an hour for the workers.

“What it does is give us another avenue of getting the job done without using a temporary employee or a part-time employee,” Henderson said. “It’s just another tool for us to use to get our job done.”

The Oxnard City Council approved the plan unanimously on Tuesday without discussion. But council members said before the meeting that the program is well worth the money.

“If you can invest $54,000 and get a work force of 14, I think it’s a good investment,” Councilman Thomas E. Holden said. “That type of assistance isn’t available in the existing (hiring) structure.”

Councilman Michael A. Plisky said the city should investigate expanding the program to other departments to help whittle costs.

“We have access to programs the private sector doesn’t have and we need to take advantage of them,” Plisky said.

By July 1, when the 1994-95 fiscal year begins, the price of the agreement will rise to $80,000--about $8,000 for each of the workers, Henderson said. But the cost is below what it would cost Oxnard to hire employees, he said.

Paul Magie, a supervisor in the corps’ Camarillo district, said the reimbursement program was begun because he could no longer afford to give away the service of his workers.

“Things have changed,” said Magie, whose district stretches from north Los Angeles County nearly to Santa Barbara. “We’ve got the state budget crisis that has put us in this position. We would have had to stop the Oxnard program.”

The corps’ Camarillo facility has about 80 members who live at the center. But the Oxnard workers are able to live at home under the reimbursement plan, Magie said.

“We’ve had a long-term relationship with the city of Oxnard that we haven’t had with other cities,” said Magie, who said other cities are welcome to propose similar projects.

Conservation crew members, who must be between 18 and 23 years old, say the corps offers them stability and an opportunity to better themselves.

“I wanted to get off the streets and learn a trade,” said Herbert Bailey, who was busy Tuesday clearing weeds from the median along Third Street.

“I figure the two years I’m in here, I’ll have a skill and be done with college,” said Bailey, who is enrolled at Oxnard College. “Otherwise, I’d be hanging out on the streets doing nothing.”

Anthony Dominguez, a corps member for three months, said the corps has helped him become more responsible--even if he is making the minimum wage.

“I prefer working and trying to take care of my family,” said Dominguez, now working to pass his high school equivalency exam. “Hopefully I’ll be making a lot more money when I get out, but it’s a start.”