Oxnard’s Retreat Postponed as Officials Bicker

Oxnard’s retreat on Tuesday was intended to be a “team-building” session where city leaders would resolve their differences and devise long-term plans for the future of Oxnard.

Instead, the retreat turned into a bickering match involving council members Tom Holden and Andres Herrera versus Mayor Manuel Lopez--and the session was postponed within minutes until May 9, when it can be televised.

Herrera and Holden--who suggested that the retreat be postponed until it can be shown on television--said they were angry over Lopez’s allegations that the City Council uses retreats to make major decisions out of public view.

They accused the mayor of grandstanding for political reasons--namely, his opposition to the City Council’s January decision to abolish the Oxnard Planning Commission. The idea was originally conceived at a retreat.

“The remarks made in the press by the mayor, that has been a disservice to this council,” Herrera said. “ . . . C’mon mayor! Give me a break! You have been at all of these retreats.”

Holden accused Lopez of mentioning only a retreat-generated decision that he disapproved of--the dismantling of the Planning Commission--and staying silent on other retreat issues he approved of.

“I don’t come to retreats with agendas other than what our citizens have been concerned about for the last 20 years,” Holden said. “I’m tired of all the posturing and this nonsense.”

Lopez argued that retreats are productive, but that they have always been unpopular with residents who feel they are being shut out of the political forum. He agreed that televising the meetings will reduce public criticism.

But Councilman Dean Maulhardt said, “I’m a little leery of that, in that that sort of defeats the purpose of the retreat.”

However, Holden said, “We would be moving forward today, despite criticism because we felt we should be moving forward. But when the criticism comes from inside, I think we need to do something about it.”

In the end, the council unanimously approved televising the retreat.

Some residents criticized this year’s retreat, saying the sessions allow the City Council to make important policy decisions in a place citizens are not likely to attend. Only a handful of residents showed up for the retreat Tuesday morning at the River Ridge Golf Course clubhouse.

“They say the retreats are public, but the average citizen cannot take off from work,” said Steve Buratti, chairman of the Wilson Neighborhood Council, who could not attend the session. “What do you think the reaction of my boss would be if I said ‘I need to take off from work today to go to a City Council retreat?’ ”

Meanwhile, the price tag for the retreat keeps rising.

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The session was originally scheduled for March 24-25, and was expected to cost taxpayers about $11,000.

It was postponed after eight hours because Herrera was sick and could not attend.

Tuesday’s reconvened retreat was expected to cost $3,000 more, bringing the total to $14,000.

But because it was postponed yet again, the session is expected to cost the city several thousand more, said City Clerk Daniel Martinez, adding that he has not yet been billed.

The money is needed to pay for facilitator David G. Jones and catering, he said.

The Oxnard City Council also held a special meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the overburdened Rose Avenue sewer lines in the city’s northeast.

Council members said they were upset that Oxnard engineer Ben Wong told reporters the pipe is threatening to unleash thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the streets of northeast Oxnard because the city allowed too much development there.

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The council members even considered meeting in closed session to discuss Wong’s remarks, which they regarded as a personnel issue.

Instead, they grilled Wong in open session for over-dramatizing the problem, and criticized other city staffers for failing to bring the sewer problem to their attention.

“It seems like we’re going to be spilling sewage all over Oxnard,” Herrera said facetiously to Wong. “What’s worse, we don’t have the money to fix it.”

Herrera said later in an interview that Wong had alarmed Oxnard residents without cause.

Wong, meanwhile, retreated from his initial stance in interviews and an interdepartmental memo. The memo stated that the sewer problem would force Oxnard to spend up to $7.5 million to build a new sewage pipe--and would lead to a state-imposed moratorium on growth in the city.

“Maybe a temporary holding tank is the solution,” Wong told the council. “That’s the best bet.”

Holden said he could not understand how a sewage problem of the magnitude Wong had described could develop seemingly overnight. He added that the way the sewer issue came to the fore was a perfect example of bureaucracy not working correctly.

City Manager Tom Frutchey said the sewer problem was not nearly so serious as Wong had described. He took the blame for not bringing the issue to the City Council, which did not receive Wong’s memo and was not aware of the overburdened pipe until contacted by reporters.

“I do not believe this is a crisis,” Frutchey said. “We can manage it at the staff level, and we will manage it . . . Someone chose to address a problem in an inappropriate way.”