SIMI VALLEY : 9 Candidates Seek Seat on Park Board

The election may be over, but for nine aspiring candidates to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District Board of Directors, the contest is just beginning.

Word that the board would make an appointment to fill a vacancy left by Debi Schultze, who resigned from the board last month, drew a field of nine, including outgoing member Mark Johnson, who asked to be appointed to the seat after losing a reelection bid last week.

The deadline for submitting resumes for the position was last Wednesday, the day after the at-large election for the seats held by Johnson and Jim Meredith, who was reelected.

The board will interview the candidates at a public meeting from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Sycamore Drive Community Center. Meredith said he hopes the board will make a decision that night.

“But it’s going to be hard,” Meredith said. “They are all so qualified. No matter who it is, it is going to be a highly qualified person.”

Only Meredith, Bonnie Carpenter and Don Funk will vote on the appointment, because newcomer Gene Hostetler, the second-highest vote getter in last week’s election, has not been sworn into office.

Two candidates from Oak Park have submitted their names to fill the vacancy. Both Dr. Steve Iceland and David Ross are former members of Oak Park’s Municipal Advisory Committee. Though Rancho Simi owns and manages four parks in Oak Park, the community has never been represented on the park board.

From Simi Valley, candidates include Jim Thompson, John Baxter, Randall Sundeen, Kay Slater, Ed Chovanec and William Schemm.