City Council to Weigh Earthquake Relief Spending : Thousand Oaks: Whether to give priority to city-owned or private property is at issue.

Thousand Oaks City Council members will decide tonight how to spend a $500,000 earthquake relief fund, debating whether to emphasize repairing city-owned masonry walls or helping residents rebuild their homes.

Although Thousand Oaks suffered far less damage than neighboring Simi Valley, at least two dozen residents have applied for city aid, claiming that Federal Emergency Management Agency grants cannot cover their needs.

The fund, an emergency allocation from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, can be used to repair city structures or help residents of any income group.

Within those broad guidelines, council members have so far been unable to agree on exactly how the half-million dollars should be allocated.

The staff recommendation calls for devoting $125,000 to help any residents with household repairs not covered by insurance or other federal aid.

Another $245,000 would be spent on repairing masonry walls, inspecting reservoirs for damage, and boosting disaster preparedness by buying emergency supplies and educating residents. The final one-fourth of the grant would remain in a contingency fund.

The recommendation to set aside just $125,000 for immediate housing rehab loans angered Mayor Elois Zeanah.

“I can’t believe this report--I’m very disappointed with it,” Zeanah said. “Staff is placing a priority on perimeter walls, even though the council’s clear direction was to focus on the residents.”

Councilman Alex Fiore, however, said he considered the funding distribution “fair and reasonable.” Tilting or unstable walls could topple on passersby, he said, so the damaged masonry endangers all Thousand Oaks residents. Individual home repairs, by contrast, would help only one family at a time.

“The general public walks along those sidewalks, and one of these walls could come down and hurt someone,” Fiore said. “We should use a substantial amount of that money to repair perimeter walls.”

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Anticipating just such a clash, City Manager Grant Brimhall has labeled his staff’s recommendation “very squishy” and subject to change. Further, he has proposed appointing an ad-hoc committee of Fiore and Zeanah to come up with a more detailed spending plan.

But forming a committee would mean yet another delay to residents who have already squeezed every possible penny out of state and federal agencies and still cannot come up with the cash to repair peeling plaster or replace prized crystal.

Four months after the Northridge quake, Dan and Sharon Gerlach still anxiously await word on whether the city can help them cover more than $30,000 in damage to their home.

They’re frustrated at the time lapse and annoyed at the staff report’s emphasis on treating the city’s poorest residents the most generously. The recommendations call for low-income senior citizens or disabled residents to receive grants. All others would get only loans, with interest rates from 4% to 6%, depending on household income.

“If you have to be handicapped, have to be low-income, have to be elderly (to get grants), you have to go through so many gates,” said Dan Gerlach, an electrical engineer. “I would hope the city would relax their requirements to allow more people to qualify for money. And citizens should be a higher priority than retaining walls.”

The application process will require elaborate screening as city officials scrutinize documentation of FEMA and state loans, private insurance coverage and other assistance programs. Officials have not yet decided whether to follow the lead of Simi Valley, where the City Council must review each application.

“Sure, it’s possible to disburse the money faster--the first three people who sign up could get it all--but we need to be fiscally responsible,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “It’s not that we don’t trust people, but we need to verify that they really have no other source of funding available.”

Even some applicants, eager as they are for city help, understand the need for laborious cross-checking.

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Forrest and Jacque Frields, for example, are counting on some city loans to help them cover the deductible on their earthquake insurance policy, which exceeds $21,000. Yet they’re willing to wait out the application process.

“Any time the government gives out taxpayers’ money, you’ve got to be sure you know where it’s going,” said Forrest Frields, a planning commissioner and local photographer.

The couple this week leased a new house for six months while they await word on whether a cracked foundation and split roof beams will force demolition of their quake-battered home. Whatever the verdict, repairing the house will take months and cost about $100,000--and their private insurance doesn’t cover the whole tab.

“We’ve been in a recession for four years,” Forrest Frields said. “We’ve tapped our savings already. We’re going to have to ask the city or FEMA for help.”