OXNARD : City Helps Fund Task Force to Save Bases

The Oxnard City Council agreed to contribute $32,450 to a group that hopes to persuade the Pentagon not to close the Point Mugu and Port Hueneme naval bases.

The money goes to the Base Realignment and Closure 1995 Task Force, which hopes to raise $350,000 to hire Washington lobbyists.

Group leaders say that the county would lose up to 60,000 jobs and $1.5 billion a year if the bases are shut down.

“The closure of those bases would be the most severe economic impact this county has ever seen,” said Bob Conroy, co-chairman of the task force.

“Can you imagine Port Hueneme without that base? They would be decimated.”

The task force is hoping to get $150,000 from county and city governments, $50,000 from companies with government contracts, $50,000 from federal employees and $100,000 from county businesses.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is giving the task force $10,000 and free office space. The Port Hueneme City Council postponed a decision last week on a task force request for $16,000.

But task force members persuaded the Ventura City Council to pledge $19,930 Monday night. And they will ask the Camarillo City Council for $19,530 today.

The Oxnard council also agreed to contribute $2,500 to a $15,000 county study of a Channel Islands Harbor aquarium. The study, by aquarium expert Richard Lyon, has already been paid for by the county and is under way.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez urged council members to pitch in for the study to show their enthusiasm for the project. But Councilman Michael Plisky complained that he was not invited to the news conference where county officials announced the project and that the county “only involves Oxnard when it wants money.”