Planner Resigns Over Landscape Contract

A Ventura planning commissioner abruptly resigned Monday evening after the City Council instructed him to either step down from his city post or refuse to accept a Redevelopment Agency contract for his landscape-architecture firm.

Curtis D. Stiles announced his resignation from the Planning Commission at a council meeting after council members, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, told him to choose between his public service and private business.

Council members had decided 6 to 1 that Stiles could either continue to serve or accept a $23,000 contract for landscaping at a downtown plaza. Councilman Jim Monahan cast the dissenting vote.

Mayor Tom Buford warned that the primary concern is “cronyism. Those on the inside get to work.”

Then to council members’ surprise, Stiles suddenly said he was both resigning his post and withdrawing his contract proposal.

Expressing regret that they had perhaps spoken too harshly, council members approved Stiles’ landscaping contract for the plaza at the south end of California Street near the beach promenade.

“I guess we could admit that maybe we were a little harsh here,” Councilman Greg Carson said.