OAK PARK : Longtime Resident to Join Parks Board

For the first time since the special parks district was founded in 1961, an Oak Park resident will sit on the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District board of directors, park officials said.

Longtime Oak Park resident Steven Iceland was appointed to fill a vacancy left on the five-member board by the resignation of Debi Schultze on Oct. 7.

Although most of the parks managed by Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District are in Simi Valley, the district owns and operates about 75 acres of parkland in Oak Park.

Iceland was selected in a unanimous vote by board members Bonnie Carpenter, Don Funk and Jim Meredith last week. Director Mark Johnson, who recently lost a reelection bid, was under consideration for the appointment and so could not vote.

Meredith said Iceland was picked because of his community experience, not to fill any geographic quota.

“There were nine excellent candidates,” Meredith said. “It was a very difficult choice. But Steve has been so involved in his community for so long.”

Carpenter said she was also impressed by Iceland’s knowledge of Ventura County politics and government.

Iceland has been on the Oak Park Advisory Committee to the park district for 12 years and spent more than a decade on the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council.

He and Simi Valley Police Detective Gene Hostetler, who was elected Nov. 8, will be sworn in at tonight’s board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Sycamore Drive Community Center, 1692 Sycamore Drive, Simi Valley.