Schaefer Makes a Name for Herself at New Plaza : Thousand Oaks: Former councilwoman is left off list of ‘outstanding citizens,’ but she’ll be honored later this fall.

Former Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Madge L. Schaefer felt snubbed. Ignored. Even mocked.

She had been left off a list of “outstanding citizens” recognized by Mayor Alex Fiore during the first City Council meeting in the new Civic Arts Plaza earlier this week.

And no list of outstanding citizens, she thought, would be complete without Madge L. Schaefer’s name somewhere near the top.

“I take a lot of credit for the way Thousand Oaks has turned out,” she said. “I consider this a slight and I’d like it to be publicly corrected.”

Schaefer learned late Thursday that she’ll get her wish.

The list Fiore read during Tuesday night’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Civic Arts Plaza was supposed to be a roll call of civic leaders who had been honored in the past by having their names inscribed on seats in the old City Hall. By recognizing each “outstanding citizen,” Fiore was effectively rededicating the seats--transferring the plaques to the new council chamber.

But his list contained only 16 names. Over the years, 18 people had been honored with seats.

Somehow, Schaefer and former Councilman Ed Jones had slipped from the list.

No one realized the omissions at the time--at least, no one came forward to protest. But the next day, a friend told Schaefer about the ceremony and suggested that the list had been glaringly incomplete.

“I don’t like it,” Schaefer concluded. And she set about to remedy the situation.

She called the city clerk. She called the city manager. After a day of complaining, she got results.

“There’s a major apology due,” City Manager Grant Brimhall said. “It’s very clear that some mistakes have been made.”

Jones was quick to forgive and forget. “I know it wasn’t intentional,” he said mildly. “They just needed to do a little bit more research.”

Schaefer, however, was not about to take the official “oops” at face value.

In her eight years on the council, Schaefer took pride in her frequent, flashy clashes with the political establishment. And she could not resist a chance to tweak the city bureaucracy for leaving her off the list of outstanding citizens.

*

“On a scale of importance from one to 10, this is a one-half,” Schaefer acknowledged. “But it’s another petty, political ploy that comes from somewhere in the management. . . . It’s not so much the (lack of) recognition that bothers me. It’s that they’re trying to rewrite history.”

City officials--who dug up an audio tape of the Nov. 18, 1986 meeting to confirm that both Schaefer and Jones were awarded seats--insist they made an honest error. They will hold a separate ceremony to honor the two former council members later this fall.

“The right thing will be done, belatedly,” Brimhall promised.

But after accepting blame, Brimhall couldn’t resist one jab at Schaefer. “One of the nicest things that can happen in anyone’s life,” he said pointedly, “is forgiveness.”