AGOURA HILLS : Council Looks for Better Year in ’95

The year 1994 is not going to be remembered as a banner one for the City Council of Agoura Hills. The city has been beset by fiscal woes, and a recall movement targeting all members of the council is currently under way.

But Louise Rishoff, who this week assumed the title of mayor, said Friday she prefers to leave the past behind and look ahead.

“It’s going to be a year of getting the city back on its feet economically. I think that economic development is going to be my focus,” said Rishoff, a private attorney elected to the council in 1987.

“Our sales tax revenues look like they are inching back up again,” she said. “Between that and the utility tax, it looks like we can get the city moving again.”

Councilman Ed Corridori, who is now mayor pro tem, added that the city’s Economic Development Committee, which he chairs, will continue working next year to stimulate economic growth. He said that one proposed project--the Creekside Terrace movie theater complex--will, if built, attract more retail businesses to the area.

“There is a whole number of business that have expressed an interest in the project,” Corridori said.

But outgoing mayor Joan Yacovone, a former planning commissioner who will remain on the council, maintained that 1994 was not so bad for the city. Its disaster response team--a volunteer organization which has become a model to similar organizations in the area--logged 3,776 hours of volunteer time, taught disaster preparedness to more than 500 people and trained 134 new team members, she said.

The city also broke ground for a new 10-acre city park, extended library hours and completed the long-sought acquisition of a 4.5-acre parcel for a community center to be shared with Calabasas.

Agoura Hills residents launched the recall effort after the council voted to levy a 4% utility tax on residents. Critics say the tax is not needed and that the city has been wasteful in spending money.

The council terms of Yacovone and Rishoff, who critics say are part of a political machine catering to the older part of the city, end next year. Yacovone said she has not decided whether she will run again.

“That’s for my husband, Tom, and I to decide,” she said. “City Council politics is local, and I think that’s a family decision.”

Rishoff said she is also undecided. “I’m waiting to see if I’m still going to be in office next November,” she said.