ELECTIONS / SUPERVISORS : 4 in Race for 2 Seats Find Little Consensus : Board: The candidates appear at a Bar Assn. forum and seem to agree only on the need for more judges at the East County Courthouse.

They disagreed over the need to train Ventura County firefighters as paramedics, a proposal for a new west county landfill, plans for a giant east county housing project, term limits and even abortion.

Indeed, speaking at a forum before the East County Bar Assn. Wednesday, the four candidates vying for two seats on the Board of Supervisors seemed to reach consensus on only one issue: the need for more judges at the East County Courthouse.

As for now, the courthouse in Simi Valley is staffed with two court commissioners who hear mostly traffic, civil law, small claims and minor criminal cases.

But while all of the supervisor candidates agreed on the need for more court services in the east county, they pointed out that the state, not the county, provides the money to hire new judges.

“The only way we can (get that money) is if we go and lobby the state for those funds,” said Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo, who is competing against attorney Trudi Loh in the 2nd Supervisorial District that includes the Conejo Valley and Port Hueneme.

When it came to more complex issues, the candidates were less agreeable. Loh was the lone candidate to oppose developing a new landfill in western Ventura County.

She said she is against a proposed dump near Weldon Canyon out of concern that a private landfill operator would try to import trash from places such as Los Angeles.

“Landfills make money by filling them up with trash,” Loh said. “If we site a 60-year landfill at Weldon Canyon, what we’re going to see is hundreds and hundreds of trash trucks coming through the east county.”

Loh advocates exploring other alternatives for disposing trash, including more aggressive recycling programs or possibly even shipping the county’s waste elsewhere by rail.

But Simi Valley Councilwoman Judy Mikels and Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery, candidates in the 4th Supervisorial District, agreed with Schillo that a west county landfill is the only realistic solution to deal with that area’s trash problems. The 4th District encompasses Simi Valley, Moorpark and the Santa Rosa Valley.

“We keep hearing that we don’t need any landfills, well, I beg to differ,” Mikels said. “The technology is not here yet (for disposing of trash by any other means), and it probably will not be here for another 20 years.”

Loh was also the only candidate who did not support giving the Ahmanson Land Co. an extension of its development agreement with the county. In return for the right to build a golf-course community in the Simi Hills, the developer agreed to turn over thousands of acres of privately owned mountain land to public park agencies.

But the deal has been stalled by lawsuits filed against the developer, which initially had until 1995 to complete the land transactions. Ahmanson is now asking that the deadline for acquiring two ranch properties owned by Bob Hope be pushed back three years.

Loh said Ahmanson knew all along there would be lawsuits filed against its 3,050-house development and suggested the developer may be seeking a way out of its agreement with the county.