Open Space Panel Votes to Remove Term Limit for Community Delegate : Conejo Valley: Board action is largely intended to ensure that longtime member Rorie Skei continues serving on the agency.

Term limits were not even trendy back in 1977 when the Conejo Valley’s open space agency established a two-term limit for the community representative on its five-person board of directors.

The limit of the volunteer positions has technically been in effect ever since, but no one had noticed its existence until it threatened longtime member Rorie Skei’s place on the board.

Thursday night, the agency’s board, composed of Skei, two Thousand Oaks City Council members and two park district members, voted 4 to 1 to overturn the limit, largely to ensure Skei’s ability to continue to serve as the agency’s community representative.

“I believe that removing the term limits should be done regardless of my interest in this position,” said Skei, chairwoman of the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, which oversees the ring of undeveloped land surrounding Thousand Oaks. “Then there would not be an automatic out-the-door after two terms, for whoever the person is.”

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah was the only COSCA board member to vote against overturning the term limits. While she said she has nothing against Skei, Zeanah said she believes that other applicants should be given a chance to serve on the agency’s board.

Skei, who works full time as a division chief for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, has been on the COSCA board since 1980. Since terms are supposed to be four years long, that would put her near the end of her fourth term, but COSCA officials acknowledge they have not kept careful track of when terms expire.

Zeanah said she generally favors term limits.

“I think it is good, especially in government, to rotate so that you get infusion of new ideas,” she said. “It’s no reflection on Rorie.

“In all fairness, I think the other board members are very comfortable with her, they become social friends,” Zeanah added. “I think that is one reason term limits are imposed. You kind of get set in your ways otherwise.”

But Councilman Andy Fox said he believes the COSCA board gets enough rotation from its ever-changing cast of City Council members and representatives from the Conejo Recreation and Park District, each of whom only serve during their terms as elected officials.

“You have fresh blood on this committee all the time,” Fox said before the meeting. “I see some value in having someone with some history and background on this committee. And Rorie has got that.”

Board member Mike Berger agreed with Fox, even though he applauds term limits for career politicians.

“We’re looking here more at a volunteer position than a politician,” Berger said. “And I’m seeing a volunteer who is doing a good job and I don’t want to replace her needlessly.”

The term-limit provision finally came to the board’s attention because--for the first time in the agency’s history--other members of the public have expressed interest in taking over Skei’s position. Another provision in the agency’s bylaws states that without an available replacement, the community member shall continue to hold the position. In May, five other Thousand Oaks residents applied for the job.

At Thursday’s meeting, the board agreed to interview all six candidates at a special meeting in late July. Besides Skei, the candidates include William Becher, Richard Farris, Carrol McDonald, Douglas Nickles and Michael Poteet.

Skei said she would recuse herself during those interviews. After some discussion at Thursday’s meeting, COSCA staff members decided it would not be a conflict of interest for Skei to vote on the term-limit issue because she had no potential for financial gain.

The decision to eliminate the term limits must still be ratified by the Thousand Oaks City Council and the park district board. Those panels serve as governing boards of the joint powers agency.