Local Elections : WEST COUNTY : Growth Plays a Major Role in Council Races

Oxnard voters kept the city on a pro-growth course in this week’s council election, bringing back an incumbent and replacing an outgoing conservative with another like-minded businessman.

But the residents of Port Hueneme chose to take their city in a new direction while picking three new council members.

Meanwhile, Camarillo’s three City Council incumbents all won reelection and will continue to help developers move projects. In Ojai, on the other hand, three incumbents were returned to office to ensure that city’s slow growth.

These were just some of the results Tuesday in west county elections that involved council races in half a dozen cities, as well as special ballot measures and one hotly contested harbor district race. The highlights:

Oxnard

The Oxnard Harbor District, which governs the Port of Hueneme, has two new board members: Michael Plisky, the outgoing Oxnard councilman, and Jess Herrera, a representative of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, which represents the port’s workers. Incumbent Raymond E. Fosse, a retired ship captain, was also reelected.

At the council level, incumbent Tom Holden will return to office and Dean Maulhardt will fill the seat vacated by Plisky.

Holden’s reelection practically ensures that the council will not veer from its current policy of cutting city departments while trying to maintain services.

“We’re going to continue that line,” said Maulhardt, a descendant of two of the county’s most prominent farming families. “With Tom Holden being reelected easily, I think the people of Oxnard showed that they agree with that approach.”

Although Maulhardt and Plisky may share similar views, their way of dealing with city issues--and their council colleagues--will probably be different.

“He is more inquiring in his approach,” Jane Tolmach, a former Oxnard mayor, said of Maulhardt. “My impression is that Dean will be quite a bit different from Plisky. Plisky is very partisan.”

Tolmach said Maulhardt is bright and interested in Oxnard’s affairs, but she wonders if he might be a bit naive.

“He told me he was for the gambling casino,” Tolmach said. “I think he’s an honest person and doesn’t realize how money can corrupt a government.”

“I’m looking forward to the challenges,” Maulhardt said. “I know I can’t foresee everything that will happen, but I’m going to try and be fair about everything.”

Port Hueneme

In a race where three longtime incumbents decided not to seek reelection to the City Council, Robert Turner, Anthony C. Volante and Jon Sharkey topped the voting.

The influx of three new council members is expected to bring a major shift to the council on sensitive issues, such as a plan to build a recreational vehicle park near the Port Hueneme beach. It might also result in a new approach to sustaining the city’s tiny Police Department, now funded through a utility tax.

New council members Turner and Sharkey vowed Wednesday to join forces with Councilwoman Toni Young to oppose the plan to build a 144-unit RV resort, still subject to approval from the California Coastal Commission and subsequently the city.

Sharkey and Volante said they will work to find another way to fund the city’s Police Department. The council approved a 4% utility tax last week to raise the annual $500,000 needed to support the city’s police force.

Port Hueneme’s Measure C, an advisory measure that asked voters whether the city should change its park and beach maintenance taxes, showed support by residents for leaving current assessments in place.

Camarillo

Incumbent council members Stanley J. Daily, Charles (Ken) Gose and Charlotte Craven all easily won reelection, and will probably keep the city on its pro-development path.

The three were returned to the council, in part because of their united opposition to the proposed joint civilian and military use of an airfield at the Point Mugu navy base.

“If I had to pick one issue, that would be it,” Craven said. “People in this town just don’t want a commercial airport built at Point Mugu.”

Another issue that figured prominently in the reelection of the incumbents is a plan to realign a one-mile section of Calleguas Creek in the city’s Mission Oaks area to make room for a development. The City Council supports moving the creek, but wants to preserve its surrounding wildlife.

Santa Paula

Voters elected two new council members--Don Johnson, the owner and publisher of a local newspaper, and law clerk Laura Flores Espinosa--along with longtime Councilman John A. Melton.

Johnson said owning and running the Santa Paula Times and serving as a councilman do not create a conflict of interest.

“It has no bearing on me whatsoever,” Johnson said of the newspaper’s City Hall coverage. “I’m separating myself from those issues. I would never change anything in a story (about the council).”

But Espinosa said she is not as comfortable with the situation.

“That’s a legitimate concern because there’s a potential for conflict there,” Espinosa said.

In another issue facing Santa Paula, voters decided to continue electing their city clerk. Measure B, which would have allowed the City Council to appoint a city clerk, was rejected by a nearly 2-1 margin.

Fillmore

Mayor Linda Brewster easily won another term, while challenger Evaristo H. Barajas led Councilman Don Gunderson by 18 votes with some absentee ballots still to be counted.

Ojai

The three incumbents--Steve Olsen, Joe De Vito and Nina Shelley--all kept their City Council seats in a race that centered on tourism, traffic and slow growth.

Shelley said one of the council’s first priorities will be completing a revision of the city’s land-use plan.

“We’re really trying to articulate our vision of what we want our community to be for the next 20 to 20 years,” said Shelley, who will serve a fourth term.

Ventura

Two Ventura ballot measures--one to open the city’s Poli Street during school hours, the other to revise the Ventura charter to allow for longer leases on city-owned waterfront property--were rejected.

Measure E, which would have opened Poli Street near Ventura High School, lost by a 2-1 margin. Opponents of the street’s closure were mostly hillside residents who complained of clogging and congestion caused by the roadblocks.

Measure D, which would have allowed waterfront leases on city-owned property longer than the current 10-year maximum, was opposed by 55% of voters.

Times staff writer Christina Lima and correspondents Julie Fields, Jeff McDonald and Jeff Mitchell contributed to this report.

* FINAL ELECTION RESULTS: A27