Oak Park Council Pledges Amity With Schillo

Members of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council, seeking to end their history of acrimonious relations with the county, have vowed to work closely with newly elected Supervisor Frank Schillo.

“We have had nothing but battles the last eight years,” said longtime Councilman Kent Behringer, citing the group’s often-strained associations with former Supervisors Maria VanderKolk and Madge Schaefer.

The Municipal Advisory Council has been ignored, Behringer said, and “the supervisors even stopped swearing us in as elected officials.”

The declaration to mend relations came at the council’s Tuesday night meeting, where Diane Milavetz and Douglas Hewitson applied for two vacancies on the five-member panel. The council advises county officials on matters affecting the unincorporated community of 15,000 residents.

Schillo, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, joined council members in promising to work for a more harmonious relationship.

He will appoint residents to fill the two positions, vacated when Ron Stark took a job as an aide to Schillo and J. Paul Fredericks moved out of the area. Stark had two years remaining in his four-year term and Fredericks had three.

The deadline for applying for the vacancies is Feb. 17. Schillo said he hopes to fill the two positions before the council’s monthly meeting in March.

Milavetz, 54, ran unsuccessfully for the Oak Park school board in 1987 and is helping in the effort to bring a permanent library to the community, which currently shares a library with Oak Park High School.

Milavetz said she believes many residents have concerns that have not been heard. “I don’t see any emerging issues--except for the need to have some emerging issues,” Milavetz said.

Hewitson, 38, the chief financial officer of an electronics firm, said public safety is his primary concern and, if appointed, he will work to get more police patrols in Oak Park.

“There isn’t a lot of crime here,” he said. “But I think we need more than just one patrol.”

Candidates for the vacancies will be interviewed by Council members Behringer, George Anterasian and John Kruer at a Feb. 28 meeting. They will then recommend five finalists to Schillo, who must choose two.

Behringer said Schillo’s decision to ask for the council’s recommendations was a welcome departure from the selection process used before.

The two new appointees will join council members in grappling with issues such as animal control, Schillo said.

He said he has received complaints from Oak Park residents about animal control and that “Ventura County just doesn’t respond out there.”

Schillo said he will examine the idea of contracting with Los Angeles County to provide animal control. As a Thousand Oaks councilman, Schillo was instrumental in getting Los Angeles County to provide animal control to that city.

“It cut our costs by two-thirds,” Schillo said. “And it’s a better service.”

Oak Park residents interested in applying for the municipal advisory council should send a letter stating their qualifications to Schillo at 199 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks 91360.