Mayor OKd as Liaison to Port Agency

Hammering home a theme of interagency cooperation that he has highlighted throughout his term--including in his State of the City address last week--Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom will become the city’s second liaison to Ventura’s financially ailing port district.

“This shows we are getting serious,” Tingstrom said. “The port is the city. If anything happened to it we would be there. It behooves us to work with them to come up with a business plan to make it work.”

The City Council approved Tingstrom’s appointment Monday night.

Ed Wohlenberg, general manager of the port district, greeted the news with enthusiasm, saying the mayor’s presence will improve communications between the city and port.

“The district was taking care of its business. The city was taking care of its business,” Wohlenberg said. “This is a new paradigm . . . sort of like what is happening between the city and the schools.”

Last year, the City Council appointed a single liaison, Councilman Ray Di Guilio, to the port district. With increased communication, the city and the district--which filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in August 1993--have begun to work together more closely.

The two agencies held a joint study session early last month so the port could bring the council up to speed on the complicated details of the port district’s finances, and to discuss how the district could meet its bankruptcy obligations.

At his own recommendation, the mayor will be appointed as the second liaison to the district, and this responsibility will be included in the mayor’s role from now on.